Mark Twain gave the first Gilded Age its name, and I suspect he would not be surprised that we are due for a second. Gilt is cheap. It looks like gold from across the room. Chicago is holding an election for its school board on November 3rd. Twenty-one seats. Here is what I found: everyone is for the children.
The Illinois Network of Charter Schools has about five million dollars in its super PAC and has said it will spend up to four million of it. One check was for $1.75 million, from a man who also chairs a charter school operator. The group says its first priority is a board that is independent of the teachers union and the mayor.
Another group, the Common Ground Collective, has spent about two million dollars on ads. Nearly all its recent money came from one billionaire, Michael Sacks, who calls himself a lifelong Democrat and thinks the union has too much say. A third group, Urban Center, wants to prevent what it calls a power grab.
The Chicago Teachers Union says it is not in an arms race with billionaires. That is true so far, in the way a man is not in a race until he hears the starting gun. In 2024 the union did its heaviest spending in the last weeks before the vote, and it won most of what it wanted. Its allies have already put about $305,000 into mailers for one candidate for board president, who is the union’s own former deputy political director.
The union that cleans and staffs the schools, SEIU, has started a super PAC of its own. It is backing some candidates against the teachers’ picks, and says the board’s budget will force midyear cuts that fall on its members. So even the unions are not in one pew.
Every one of these groups can tell you, sincerely, that it speaks for the children. I believe most of them mean it. I also notice that each of them would be paid, protected, or empowered by the result. A charter operator wants contracts renewed. A union wants a majority. A rich man wants a say. Sincerity and self-interest travel together fine. They have shared a wagon for a long time.
So here is a rule from the old Gilded Age that still works. When a campaign says it is for the children, do not argue with the sentiment. Look at the checks.
Then ask each candidate three plain questions.
- What will you do about reading and math?
- What will you do about the budget?
- Who paid for your mailers?
In my opinion, a candidate who answers the first two with numbers and the third with a name has earned a look. Early voting is underway. The disclosures are public at the Illinois State Board of Elections. Chalkbeat Chicago has a voter guide. The children cannot vote. You can.