From left on both rows, Maggie Cullerton Hooper, Ebony DeBerry, Kate Doyle and Bruce Leon are running for District 2 on the Board of Education. [Campaign photos]

Ebony DeBerry, Maggie Cullerton Hooper, Kate Doyle and Bruce Leon are competing to represent District 2 on the partially elected Chicago Board of Education next year. District 2 includes the North Side neighborhoods of Edgewater, West Ridge, Albany Park, Rogers Park, Lincoln Square, Ravenswood, Andersonville, Peterson Park and Budlong Woods.

The second district race’s fundraising limits were lifted last week after Leon reported a $150,000 loan to his campaign. In all but two of the school board races, contribution limits have been lifted as a result of the amount of money being raised.

The powerful Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) has endorsed candidates in each of the 10 board races this year. In District 2, the CTU has endorsed DeBerry, who currently works as the program manager for educational initiatives at ONE Northside and runs its Women of Color group and parent mentor program. 

Leon, the current Cook County Democratic Party committeeperson in the 50th Ward, is the best funded candidate, though he has loaned his own campaign committee $245,000 and has reported no other contributions as of Oct. 11. 

Hooper, a senior consultant for the Alliance for Black Equality PAC and a former deputy commissioner for partnerships at the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, has raised at least $75,550 in individual contributions and $26,000 in transfers into her committee as of Oct. 11, making her the second-best funded candidate in the race with $101,550 reported.

At least $25,000 of Hooper’s campaign cash has come from the campaign account for her father, former State Senate President John Cullerton. Her committee also reported a $1,000 transfer from the Chicagoland Operators Joint Labor-Management PAC. 

Among individual contributions, Hooper’s biggest donors have been the Chicago-based personal injury firm Smith LaCien LLP, which has given at least $13,800 to her campaign; at least $5,000 from DRL Enterprises Executive Don Levin, who owns the Chicago Wolves hockey team; at least $3,000 from attorney Sam Amirante, a former Cook County Circuit Court judge; at least $2,500 from the LIUNA Chicago Laborer's District Council PAC; $5,000 from Incline Village, Nevada-based producer Margaret Taylor; and a total of $2,500 from the law firm Cooney and Conway LLP and attorney Kevin Conway.

DeBerry is the third-best funded candidate in the race but is extremely close in funding with Hooper. As of Oct. 11, DeBerry has reported just over $101,000 in direct and in-kind contributions and transfers. 

DeBerry has received $18,625 in in-kind contributions from the CTU in the forms of field staff and data consulting and a $26,800 transfer into her campaign committee from the CTU Local 1 PAC. DeBerry has also reported a more than $42,500 in-kind contribution from Chicago Working Families in the form of printer mailers. 

DeBerry has also received at least $1,000 from Marilyn Pagan, executive director of A Just Harvest, and at least $2,000 from Theresa Preston-Werner, co-founder of the progressive, climate-focused philanthropy organization 128 Foundation. Preston-Werner lives in California and is married to GitHub co-founder Tom Preston-Werner, who runs an angel investment firm. 

Doyle is the co-founder of the nonprofit KindWork, which delivers tech education and career preparation to low-income, unemployed, and underemployed youth, and a former special education teacher. She has reported over $78,000 in direct and in-kind contributions, transfers and loans. 

As of Oct. 11, Doyle has raised over $36,500 in individual contributions. Some of her biggest donors include Sam Doyle, a finance and business operations leader at the software company 3Box Labs, who gave at least $5,000; Matt Powers, an executive at financial advisory firm Harness Wealth, who gave at least $3,500; and Lorraine LeBlanc, who has given at least $3,105. 

Doyle’s campaign committee has also reported a $1,000 transfer from the Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Administrative District Council 1 of Illinois and a $1,500 transfer from the New York-based Leaders in Education PAC.

Doyle’s campaign also reported a $35,000 loan from Doyle herself and a $3,000 contribution from Propel, a limited liability company that lists Doyle as the registered agent.