The Board of Education is barring school board candidates from accepting campaign contributions from current or prospective Chicago Public Schools vendors to ward off conflicts or undue influence as election season forges ahead.
But questions remain about whether restrictions are too narrow as candidates collect millions in campaign cash ahead of an election that will determine who sits on the city’s first fully elected school board.
“As we enter into unprecedented waters for the board and campaigning, I thought it important that we inoculate the board from the optics of pay to play,” Board President Sean Harden said during discussion of the resolution at a June meeting.
The board approved the measure Wednesday in a 16-1 vote.
Each candidate would be responsible for confirming that campaign contributions aren’t coming from active CPS vendors or any organizations that have applied for district contracts, according to the resolution. The district relies on vendors for various goods and services, from landscaping to academic tools, whose contracts are approved by the board.
Nearly all current board members, half of whom were appointed by the mayor, filed paperwork in May to join the school board race as the governing body shifts from partially to fully elected next year. Many are facing challenges to their candidacies in the November election, and the process that determines if they’ll appear on the ballot this fall is ongoing.
Harden, who is not seeking to retain his seat, said the Better Government Association reviewed the resolution and told him it represented “the standard by which the board should be approaching this work.”
Bryan Zarou, BGA vice president of policy, called it a “step in the right direction” but noted the resolution was too narrowly targeted at vendors. For example, the resolution does not include language preventing individuals connected with vendors from making personal contributions.
“There still needs to be a lot more work to really tighten those loopholes that exist,” Zarou said in an interview.
Verjeana McCotter-Jacobs, CEO of the National School Board Association, said it’s common for large elected school boards to pass such resolutions.
“It’s definitely for the public, but it should also raise the opportunity for board members to think about their donations,” McCotter-Jacobs said.
Campaign finance records show that board members Che “Rhymefest” Smith and Jessica Biggs both recently received campaign contributions from law firm Cozen O’Connor, which has a contract with the board. Cozen O’Connor has represented the Board of Education in a lawsuit filed by former CPS CEO Pedro Martinez over the decision to fire him.
Disclosures also show that Anthony Fiore, vice president of Open Kitchens, which has a contract to provide meals for CPS, has contributed to the campaign funds of members Carlos Rivas, Ellen Rosenfeld, Jessica Biggs and Therese Boyle.
The resolution states that board members who accepted donations from a vendor before adoption of the resolution should either recuse themselves from voting for agenda items involving those vendors or return the donation and notify the district and its ethics officer. But it is unclear if that applies to Fiore’s contribution because it was a personal donation.
Rivas said he will consult with his attorney on how to proceed.
“Common practice before the resolution was recusal, and I suspect that will continue to be the case for all board members to avoid actual or perceived conflicts,” Rivas said in a text message.
Biggs, Boyle, Smith and Rosenfeld didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The board passed the resolution without much discussion. But during a meeting in June, several board members questioned whether it should extend to donations from the district’s labor unions since the board also votes on their contracts.
The Chicago Teachers Union was a big spender during the 2024 election when only half of the school board seats were up for grabs. The union’s two political action committees shelled out $4.3 million on those races, according to an analysis by Chalkbeat Chicago.
Charter schools interests and groups that are critical of the union also ponied up $3.5 million during the historic elections through two key super PACs. That included the INCS Action Committee, affiliated with the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, and the Urban Center, which were bolstered by millionaires and billionaires. The board also votes on charter school contracts.
Spending in this year’s elections is expected to surpass 2024 as the entire 21-member board is up for a vote, more than the 10 seats up for election that year. More than $13 million was spent during the 2024 campaign season, according to the Chalkbeat analysis, with 31 candidates on the ballot.
Fifty-one people have entered the race this year, but that number is likely to dwindle after the ballot challenge process concludes. Candidate campaign committees have already received more than $2 million in contributions. Campaigns file their latest financial disclosures next week.
There are already disclosure policies in place for board members. They are required to check every month for conflicts of interest and must recuse themselves from voting on matters involving contracts with entities they have economic interests in, according to CPS policy.