Outside Groups Outraise and Outspend CTU in Chicago School Board Elections
In Chicago's historic school board elections, outside groups funded by wealthy donors and aligned with charter school supporters are significantly outraising and outspending the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), with large organizations collecting five times more money and spending nearly three…
Chicago, IL, October 16, 2026 —
Outside groups funded by wealthy donors and aligned with charter school supporters are outraising and outspending the Chicago Teachers Union in Chicago’s historic school board elections, according to the information provided. Large organizations are described as collecting five times more money and spending nearly three times as much as the union.
The figures indicate a substantial fundraising and spending gap between the groups and CTU. However, the available account does not identify the organizations, donors, election candidates or the period covered by the comparison. It also does not provide dollar amounts or explain how the totals were compiled.
The account characterizes the elections as historic but does not specify what makes them so. It does not give details about the election schedule, the races involved or the role the outside groups have played beyond their alignment with charter school supporters.
Without those details, the scale of the reported gap can be described only in relative terms: the large organizations collected five times more money and spent nearly three times as much as CTU. The information provided does not establish whether the comparison covers all outside groups or a particular subset, or whether the fundraising and spending totals use the same reporting period.
The names of the organizations and wealthy donors, the source of the financial figures and the exact amounts were not provided. Further detail on those points would be needed to assess the comparison’s scope and provide a fuller account of how the spending relates to the school board elections.
Story summarized from the original created by Lauren FitzPatrick,Sarah Karp on chicago.suntimes.com, see more information here.
