Posted inInvestigations

More Than $1.8 Million Raised in Chicago School Board Election, as Contribution Caps Are Lifted in Race for Board President

An analysis of money candidates received from Oct. 1, 2025 to June 30 found the majority of that total – $1.2 million — went to people running for board president.

Mila Koumpilova, Chalkbeat Chicago, and Sarah Karp, WBEZJuly 20, 2026July 20, 2026

Republish this article

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

When republishing or co-publishing our stories, please copy and paste our tracking code (found at the bottom of the copy below - it includes the words "republication-tracker-tool") anywhere in the body of this article in your website’s content management system. This will let us know how much traffic our story has received. Find our content republishing guidelines here.

More Than $1.8 Million Raised in Chicago School Board Election, as Contribution Caps Are Lifted in Race for Board President

by Mila Koumpilova, Chalkbeat Chicago, Illinois Answers Project
July 20, 2026

<h1>More Than $1.8 Million Raised in Chicago School Board Election, as Contribution Caps Are Lifted in Race for Board President</h1>
<p class="byline">by Mila Koumpilova, Chalkbeat Chicago, Illinois Answers Project <br />July 20, 2026</p>
<div class="newspack-content-gate__gate newspack-content-gate__inline-gate">
<div style="clear:both;display:table"></div>
<div class="wp-block-group alignwide has-border-color has-base-3-border-color has-white-color has-primary-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-elements-b522c7804fdbc60f9b8c5b072fab8d75" style="border-width:1px;border-top-left-radius:8px;border-top-right-radius:8px;border-bottom-left-radius:8px;border-bottom-right-radius:8px;padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--80);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--80);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--80);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--80)">
<div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-0cefa6ed wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained">
<h3 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-center" id="h-this-story-is-free-we-just-need-your-email"><strong>This story is <span style="text-decoration: underline">free</span>. We just need your email.</strong></h3>
<div class="wp-block-group">
<div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d055b032 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained">
<p class="has-text-align-center halyard wp-block-paragraph">We don’t put our investigations behind a paywall. But we do ask readers to sign up for our newsletter before reading, so we can stay connected and keep you informed about our latest reporting.</p>
<p class="has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph">
</div>
</div>
<div class="wp-block-group">
<div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-d055b032 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained">
<div class="newspack-registration newspack-ui ">
<p class="newspack-registration__description">By entering my email I consent to receiving additional emails from Illinois Answers Project, such as newsletters, event invitations, and occasional opportunities to support our work. I understand I can unsubscribe at any time.</p>
<p>Have questions or experiencing an issue? Contact us at <a href="mailto:info@bettergov.org">info@bettergov.org</a>.</p>
<div class="newspack-registration__form-content">
<div class="newspack-registration__main">
<div>
<div class="newspack-ui">
			<button type="button" class="newspack-ui__button newspack-ui__button--wide newspack-ui__button--secondary newspack-ui__button--google-oauth"></p>
<p>							Continue with Google			</button></p>
<div class="newspack-ui__word-divider">
				Or			</div>
</p></div>
<div class="newspack-registration__inputs">
<p>																<button type="submit" class="newspack-ui__button newspack-ui__button--primary"><br />
									<span class="submit">Continue</span><br />
								</button>
							</div>
<div class="newspack-registration__response newspack-registration--hidden">
															</div>
</p></div>
</p></div>
</p></div>
<div class="newspack-registration__help-text">
<p>
													<a href="https://illinoisanswers.org/privacy-policy-2/"><br />
							I agree to the <a href="https://www.bettergov.org/better-government-association-privacy-policy/">Terms of Service</a> and <a href="https://www.bettergov.org/terms-of-service/">Privacy Policy</a>.												</a>
											</p>
</p></div>
<div class="newspack-registration__registration-success newspack-registration--hidden newspack-ui__box newspack-ui__box--x-large newspack-ui__box--success newspack-ui__box--text-center">
				<span class="newspack-ui__icon newspack-ui__icon--success"></p>
<p>							</span></p>
<div class="wp-block-newspack-reader-registration">
<p class="has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph">Success! Your account was created and you’re signed in.</p>
</div></div>
</p></div>
</p></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://illinoisanswers.org/2026/07/20/more-than-1-8-million-raised-in-chicago-school-board-election-as-contribution-caps-are-lifted-in-race-for-board-president/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://illinoisanswers.org&quot;&gt;Illinois Answers Project&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/illinoisanswers.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/cropped-favicon.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;</p>
&lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://illinoisanswers.org/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=27078&amp;amp;ga4=G-3GC466Z1PL&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://illinoisanswers.org/2026/07/20/more-than-1-8-million-raised-in-chicago-school-board-election-as-contribution-caps-are-lifted-in-race-for-board-president/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/illinoisanswers.org/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;script&gt;(function () {
  const postId = 27078;
  const source = window.location.hostname;
  const screenWidth = window.innerWidth;
  const pagePath = window.location.pathname;

  fetch(
    `https://illinoisanswers.org/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/${postId}?_fields=id,title`
  )
    .then(function (response) {
      if (!response.ok) {
        throw new Error(`WordPress API returned ${response.status}`);
      }

      return response.json();
    })
    .then(function (data) {
      const title = data?.title?.rendered || &quot;unknown&quot;;

      const query = new URLSearchParams({
        post: title,
        title: title,
        source: source,
        path: pagePath,
        width: String(screenWidth),
        test: &quot;staging&quot;,
        cache_bust: String(Date.now())
      });

      const pixel = new Image();
      pixel.src =
        &quot;https://d92l5yv8og.execute-api.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/prod/trackingpixel?&quot; +
        query.toString();

      console.log(&quot;Republication pixel requested:&quot;, pixel.src);
    })
    .catch(function (error) {
      console.error(&quot;Republication pixel failed:&quot;, error);
    });
})();&lt;/script&gt;

Candidates vying for a spot on Chicago's first fully-elected school board line up to file paperwork to get on the ballot. More than $1.8 million in campaign contributions have gone to school board candidates between Oct. 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026, according to a Chalkbeat and WBEZ/Chicago Sun-Times analysis of state campaign finance disclosures. (Credit: Anthony Vazquez/Chicago Sun-Times)

This story is free. We just need your email.

We don’t put our investigations behind a paywall. But we do ask readers to sign up for our newsletter before reading, so we can stay connected and keep you informed about our latest reporting.

By entering my email I consent to receiving additional emails from Illinois Answers Project, such as newsletters, event invitations, and occasional opportunities to support our work. I understand I can unsubscribe at any time.

Have questions or experiencing an issue? Contact us at info@bettergov.org.