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Even in big cities, local school board contests are usually low-budget affairs. That's not the case this year in Minneapolis, where hundreds of thousands of dollars are flowing into the races.


 
 
At a press conference last week, Minneapolis school board candidate Iris Altamirano held up a negative campaign flier that's been showing up in mailboxes across the city. The piece didn't attack Altamirano. To the contrary, it urged voters to support her over incumbent Rebecca Gagnon. That puts Altamirano in a difficult spot, because both she and Gagnon won the DFL endorsement. They're supposed to be running as a team for the two at-large school board seats.


 
 
But the flier made them look like opponents.


 
 
"This race has become something it should not be," Altamirano said. "It has become a fight among adults when it should be a new conversation about our children and their success."


 
 
Minneapolis has never seen a school board race this expensive. The previous record was less than $50,000, but that 2012 record has been smashed. Nearly half a million dollars has flooded in.


 
 
On one side is the city's teachers union, the traditional powerhouse in school board elections. On the other side is the so-called education reform movement, whose well-heeled backers support charter schools and increased teacher accountability. One such group calling itself the Minneapolis Progressive Education Fund got a $100,000 dollar check from former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. In total, that one group raised a jaw-dropping $228,000.


 
 
Gagnon, the incumbent, says that kind of money distorts the political process. Gagnon supports the teachers union, although she didn't seek its official endorsement. She's a stay-at-home mom who's served on the school board for the last four years, and she's running on her record.


 
 
The district is already pursuing many things reformers advocate, Gagnon said.


 
 
"They want to have an anti-union conversation, which is irrelevant," she said. "We're doing teacher evaluations. We're doing principal evaluations. We are being more and more transparent in our budget process, so you know where our money is going."


 
 
The current school board is doing a mediocre job, said Don Samuels, the favorite candidate of the reform groups. He enjoys widespread name recognition thanks to his 11 years on the Minneapolis City Council and his third-place finish in last year's mayor's race.


 
 
Samuels, a charter school champion, says Minneapolis Public Schools are failing to educate African-American students, and that more time in the classroom is part of the answer. But the board and the union too often stand in the way of change, he said.


 
 
"The board has capitulated to the union in the past, which is not healthy," Samuels said. "It should negotiate robustly. I don't blame the union. You should try to get what you can. I blame the board."


 
 
Trailing far behind in the money race is Ira Jourdain, a parent with children in the district. Jourdain is trying to turn his lack of fundraising into a campaign asset.


 
 
"I'm not supported by the PACs," Jourdain said. "I'm not supported by the union, politically or financially by either side."


 
 
All four candidates are Democrats. And the race has created political divisions in this one-party town. Immediately after Altamirano completed her call for unity last week, a heated argument erupted in the audience.


 
 
Lisa Clemons, who's backing Gagnon, claimed Altamarino is trying to play to both unions and reformers.


 
 
"She is running with the DFL," Clemons said. "She is on a second ticket with Don Samuels. So you're taking votes on two sides of the fence."


 
Javier Morillo, president of the local Service Employees International Union, rushed to Altamirano's defense.


 
 
"The union would prefer for reformers to not exist," he said. "Reformers would prefer for the union to not exist. And you know what? Neither's going to go away."

Clemons eventually walked away. She wasn't convinced.

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Even in big cities, local school board contests are usually low-budget affairs. That's not the case this year in Minneapolis, where nearly half a million dollars has flooded in.

Minneapolis School Board race sees huge influx of cash

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