• Michael McDevitt
    OCT 21, 2024
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    UNLOCKED

    Six-way race to represent North Side district on partially elected school board includes candidates across the education field

    article-image
    From left to right on each row: Karen Zaccor, Ellen Rosenfeld, Kimberly Brown, Thomas Day, Carmen Gioiosa and Andrew Davis. [Photos from campaign websites/social media]

    A six-way race to represent District 4 on the partially elected Chicago Board of Education features Karen Zaccor, Ellen Rosenfeld, Kimberly Brown, Thomas Day, Carmen Gioiosa and Andrew Davis, but two candidates are far out-fundraising the other four.

    The district includes Lincoln Park, Lake View, North Center and the majority of Uptown.

    In all but two of the 10 school board races, contribution limits have been lifted as a result of the amount of money being raised and spent. District 4 is one of the races where fundraising caps haven't been lifted. Early voting is ongoing in the school board races. 

    The top two fundraisers in the race are Rosenfeld, a Family and Community Engagement specialist at Chicago Public Schools (CPS), and Zaccor, a former CPS teacher who taught multiple grades and helped found Uplift Community High School. The powerful Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) has endorsed candidates in each of the board races and endorsed Zaccor in the fourth district.

    Zaccor’s committee has raised at least $120,151 as of Oct. 18. Of that, Zaccor has raised at least $26,645 in individual contributions and $93,506 in in-kind contributions. More than $40,300 in in-kind contributions have come from the CTU’s political committees to provide campaign staff, consulting, field services and advertising-related costs.

    Additionally, Zaccor reported a more than $51,600 in-kind donation from the People’s 32nd PAC that went toward mailers. 

    Among individual contributions, Zaccor’s biggest donors include Theresa Preston-Werner, part of a philanthropic couple with her husband, GitHub co-founder and angel investor Tom Preston-Werner. Theresa, who co-founded the progressive, climate-focused 128 Foundation, has given at least $2,000. Community organizer Marc Kaplan has given at least $1,300; John Cusick, former legislative director for the Illinois Federation of Teachers, has given at least $1,000; and retired professor Joy Clendenning has given at least $1,500. Zaccor has also given her own committee at least $6,000 in direct donations. 

    Rosenfeld’s Ellen for Education committee has reported raising at least $157,760 as of Oct. 18. Rosenfeld, who has been endorsed by 47th Ward Ald. Matt Martin, has reported receiving at least $10,050 from the 47th Ward Regular Democratic Organization — a combination of a $5,000 direct donation and $5,050 in in-kind donations for consulting and rent costs, effectively all her in-kind contributions. The Friends of Matt Martin committee has also transferred $1,000 into her committee. 

    Rosenfeld has reported $28,300 in transfers into her committee, including $13,300 from 613 PAC, a committee that seeks the “religious protection and the advancement” of Orthodox Judaism. Other transfers include $2,500 from Cook County Comm. Bridget Gainer’s (D-10) political committee, $1,000 from Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago Comm. Precious Brady-Davis’s committee, $1,000 from the campaign committee of Sen. Michael Hastings (D-Frankfort), $1,000 from the committee for Sen. Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago), $1,000 from Rep. Jay Hoffman’s (D-Swansea) committee and $1,000 from Rep. Ann Williams’s (D-Chicago) committee.   

    Rosenfeld has reported at least $103,000 in individual contributions. Of that, some of her biggest donors include Jay Edelson, founder and CEO of the law firm Edelson PC, and Illinois Network of Charter Schools Board Chair David Weinberg. Edelson has given at least $6,900 to Rosenfeld’s committee, and the firm has given at least $13,700. Weinberg has given at least $6,900. 

    Rosenfeld’s committee has also reported a $10,000 direct contribution from Electric Movement LLC and a $5,000 contribution from Government Navigation Group Inc. Rosenfeld has given her own committee at least $6,900 and loaned her campaign another $20,000.  

    Davis founded the nonprofit Education Equity Fund that provides financing to educators seeking to pursue advanced degree programs. His Friends of Andy Davis committee has reported raising at least $24,949 as of Oct. 18. He has reported loaning his campaign committee at least $1,300, and he has also reported $2,700 in loans from his company, Education Equity Inc. Davis has also reported a $5,000 individual contribution from Silvija Martincevic, the CEO of human resources software firm Deputy. 

    As of Oct. 18, Brown, chief marketing officer at Darley and an adjunct business professor at Roosevelt University and Lake Forest Graduate School of Management, has reported raising $22,957 through her committee, consisting of $16,558 in individual contributions and $6,399 in in-kind donations. Brown has given her own committee $6,500 and has received at least $1,000 from Ben Carney, the CEO of the Pre-K-12 solutions firm SOLVED Consulting. 

    Brown has also reported a $5,000 in-kind contribution for an ad book sponsorship from Austin, Texas resident Mike Milburn. Milburn also gave a $1,000 individual contribution. 

    Day has reported raising $16,200 in his campaign committee as of Oct. 18. Some of Day’s biggest donations include $6,900 from business owner John Burns, who owns a parent company that includes a cannabis production business, logistics companies and Leeds Public House in Michigan City, Indiana.  

    Day, executive director and founder of the Frontier Mission Network and lecturer at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, has also received at least $5,000 from VoteVets Political Action Committee and at least $1,500 from 32nd Ward Ald. Scott Waguespack’s Citizens for Waguespack political committee. Day also reported a $250 transfer into his committee from 34th Ward Ald. Bill Conway’s committee. 

    Gioiosa’s committee has reported $8,613 in direct and in-kind contributions as of Oct. 18, and $2,988 of that are in-kind contributions from herself in the form of consulting and petition circulation. Gioiosa, an adjunct professor and residency field coach at National Louis University, has also reported a $4,000 in-kind contribution from Dan Hubicki in the form of a retainer for petition circulation. Hubicki has also given at least $875 in direct donations. 

    The six are competing for a two-year term on the board, which is phasing in an all-elected board member model. In January 2025, 10 elected board members and 10 mayor-appointed board members will take office, and the mayor will appoint a board president. Early voting is ongoing in the school board race. 

    Following the 2026 elections, all 20 board members and the board president will be elected by voters and seated in January 2027.

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