Outside Money in Local School Elections

Recent local elections have generated growing attention to the role of ‘outside’ money where education policy matters are at stake. Outside money in local elections can take on many forms, including wealthy out-of-state individuals contributing to local school board races, nonprofits and PACs that can raise unlimited contributions and engage in campaign activities, and state and national union organizations that support local union-backed candidates. Outside money may not be a bad thing if it comes from donors whose values and interests align with those of residents in the target communities. It might even be a good thing if outside donations offset the dominance of local elites with parochial interests or raise the visibility of elections and stimulate broader debate and voter engagement. But outside funding also might skew debate and outcomes toward policies that donors support for ideological or partisan motives or because they have vested interests and are seeking personal gain. What’s needed right now is more and better research to provide empirical evidence about the extent, pattern, and consequences.Drs. Henig and Reckhow, along with Dr. Rebecca Jacobsen, have compiled a unique campaign contributions data set covering three election cycles and over 16,000 campaign contributions in four school districts (Los Angeles, CA; New Orleans, LA; Denver, CO; Bridgeport, CT). This provides a clearer picture of the form and extent of the outside money phenomenon, but it is limited in its potential to directly assess the thinking and responses of those involved in the process or to determine how these new sources of funding might influence candidates’ behavior and the outcomes of campaigns. This award will enable the researchers to analyze newspaper coverage, campaign documents and web sites, and conduct interviews with school board candidates in order to get a richer understanding of whether and how large outside donations alter local agendas and democratic involvement.,