The race for Palo Alto's school board has drawn over $50,000 in campaign donations so far this year, with Nicole Chiu-Wang leading the pack at $23,297.89 raised.
The most recent set of campaign finance disclosures were due last week and cover the period from July 1 to Sept. 24. Chiu-Wang raised $12,207.36 during that time frame, and another $11,090.53 in the first half of the year.
Shana Segal had the second biggest fundraising total, with $17,539 raised, all since July 1.
Ingrid Campos has brought in $5,869.16 this year, with $5,249.16 of that coming in since July 1.
Incumbent Shounak Dharap trailed with $3,455 raised this year. His disclosure form for the first half of the year also showed a beginning cash balance of $1,602.34. Candidates can roll over money left over from prior campaigns.
Chiu-Wang's campaign donors include a number of local elected officials, as well as other candidates for office. Two candidates for Palo Alto City Council — Lisa Forssell and Julie Lythcott-Haims — each donated $1,000 to Chiu-Wang's campaign. Lythcott-Haims' partner, Dan, donated another $1,000, as well as current council member Alison Cormak, who is not running for reelection. Former Mayor Larry Klein donated $500.
Current Palo Alto school board members Jesse Ladomirak and Jennifer DiBrienza donated $519.52 and $500, respectively. Both have endorsed Chiu-Wang's campaign.
Mountain View City Council members Lucas Ramirez and Ellen Kamei donated $104.15 and $103.12, respectively. Santa Clara County Office of Education board member Tara Sreekrishnan gave $100 and Foothill-De Anza Community College District board member Gilbert Wong donated $200, split across two donations.
Other major donors include Colin Chiu, Chennan Hsu, Mary Jo Cuwen and Sam Wang, who each donated $1,000, as well as Nana Chancellor, Jesse Dorogusker, Jolaine Harkless, Jamaica Kreps, Steven Levy and Ling Wang, who each donated $500.
Chiu-Wang and Dharap share some campaign donors, including DiBrienza, Chancellor and Dorogusker, who each also donated $500 to Dharap's reelection campaign. Dharap has endorsed Chiu-Wang's campaign for the board.
Segal's notable campaign donors include Palo Alto City Council member Tom DuBois and former Palo Alto school board member Melissa Baten Caswell, who each gave $250. Palo Alto teachers' union president Teri Baldwin contributed $100 to Segal's campaign. Segal is a former teacher and also has worked as a substitute in Palo Alto schools.
Other major donors include Preeva Tramiel and Michael Smith, who each gave $1,000, as well as Christine Boehm, Melanie Curtiss, Alan Davis, Cathy Kuan-Stacey, Gayle McDowell, Nancy Mueller, Bethany Powell, Avery Wang and Kelun Zhang, who each gave $500.
Campos' largest donor is Jennifer Hawks, who gave $1,600 across multiple donations, followed by Mark Geist, who donated $1,000. Someone listed as "Ingard Campos" also donated $500.
The next set of campaign finance disclosures is due on Oct. 27 for the period covering Sept. 25 through Oct. 22.
Comments
Registered user
JLS Middle School
on Oct 4, 2022 at 11:39 am
Registered user
on Oct 4, 2022 at 11:39 am
I wonder what they do with the money. No one has called me, no one has knocked on my door, nobody has asked if they could plant a sign nearby, no one has handed me a flyer. But it's kinda funny driving around town seeing all the signs planted in various yards. It's like a preview of who will give out the best candy on Halloween. No signs = no candy.
Registered user
College Terrace
on Oct 4, 2022 at 1:08 pm
Registered user
on Oct 4, 2022 at 1:08 pm
Shana Segal has a dedicated team of grass roots volunteers who are dropping flyers with the goal of covering every PAUSD neighborhood. Which, I understand, they are well on their way to accomplishing although I am not connected with her campaign nor have not donated to.
Broad grass roots support willing to donate time and effort on a candidate’s campaign, to my mind, trumps relying on deep pocket campaign donations and having to pay for an out of town professional campaign manager. Which I understand at least one of the school board candidates has had to do, and as I also understand two of the council candidates have done.
Registered user
Midtown
on Oct 4, 2022 at 2:52 pm
Registered user
on Oct 4, 2022 at 2:52 pm
Note that Shana has raised the most amount of $$ from small grassroots local donations, once her campaign got underway in August.
Nicole started already in June with a large amount of donations, much of which came from out of town. [Portion removed.]
Registered user
Old Palo Alto
on Oct 5, 2022 at 3:00 am
Registered user
on Oct 5, 2022 at 3:00 am
[Post removed.]
Registered user
Professorville
on Oct 5, 2022 at 8:53 am
Registered user
on Oct 5, 2022 at 8:53 am
[Post removed.]
Registered user
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Oct 5, 2022 at 9:18 am
Registered user
on Oct 5, 2022 at 9:18 am
[Post removed.]
Registered user
Professorville
on Oct 5, 2022 at 9:56 am
Registered user
on Oct 5, 2022 at 9:56 am
[Portion removed.]
Shana Segal is running to truly serve our students and community, and has the expertise and purpose. She would heal divisions and provide proper oversight over PAUSD (something that boards at neighboring districts do but our current board members do not view as their role). Our current board members wrongly promote the ideas that wellness and academics are a zero sum game and that challenging students that meet the standards (the majority of our students) harms helping students that are below the standard. They push for one-size-fits all. But this is all wrong, and goes against data and evidence. Shana is a very experienced educator, she believes in evidence-based practice. She sees where teachers and students interest align and focus on that. She is our hope to fix PAUSD.
Registered user
Midtown
on Oct 5, 2022 at 3:52 pm
Registered user
on Oct 5, 2022 at 3:52 pm
Shana has my vote! She will have our kids' back and she has the experience needed to do just that. It will a real travesty for our community if she is not elected. I truly hope our community values the experience Shana brings to the table and votes for her. It would be a real win for all of us.