Two Austin at-large school board candidates far ahead in fundraising

Oct. 19--

With $57,000 between them, Austin school board candidates Kendall Pace and Kazique Prince raised more early money than the 14 other candidates combined.

The two are vying for the at-large seat on the school board, which typically draws the most interest and the most cash. Prince, endorsed by the district's largest employee union, had $13,000, including a $10,000 donation from the labor group Education Austin.

Pace pulled down $44,000, tapping an array of individual donors and winning endorsements of prominent Austinites from across the city and beyond -- including the chief of staff for former President George W. Bush, a close college friend.

"I cast the net far and wide," said Pace, who aims to raise at least $100,000. "The donors are my neighbors, the people I used to work with, all of my contacts.

"It's not where you start; it's where you finish," she said. "You're preparing for a marathon."

But it's still early enough in the campaign that local political consultants expect the amount of school board contributions -- $105,000 so far -- to more than double before Election Day on Nov. 4. Some candidates probably waited to gather donations until after the Sept. 25 reporting deadline. The next finance reports are due eight days before the election.

The money is more important this year because of a long ballot that includes a gubernatorial race and nearly 80 candidates for Austin City Council races. Endorsements by key organizations also carry weight.

"Since no one even knows that we have school board races on the ballot, then it's very important to have money," said political consultant David Butts. "You have to have enough to put up signs so people start seeing names and do mail pieces to targeted voters."

While city races cap candidate contributions at $350, there aren't caps on the amount school board candidates may get. But most of the money still goes into city races, making it more difficult for school board candidates to find contributors.

As the race shapes up, there's a good chance that at least two of the seats might have runoffs, including the at-large District 9 seat, which drew three other candidates besides Pace and Prince.

Pace raised $43,805 as of Sept. 25 and has brought in more donations since.

Pace, who started running TV ads Friday, has brought in varied support, including from a former Texas Education Agency official and multiple donations from employees at Dell Inc., one of her former employers. She has multiple contributors who live outside of Austin, including the CFO of Uber Technologies in California. She has been endorsed by the political action committee for Austin Kids First, an education group that popped up for the first time in the 2012 Austin school board elections.

Prince raised $13,030, most of it from the Education Austin political action committee, and has drawn more donations since the Sept. 25 filing deadline.

Education Austin wields a lot of power in local education politics. In the 2012 board election, three of the four candidates endorsed by the group won. Prince also has been endorsed by the sitting District 9 board member, Tamala Barksdale, as well as former Trustee Annette LoVoi, the Rev. Sterling Lands, the Capital Area Progressive Democrats, Austin Central Labor Council, Workers Defense Project and an officer with the Texas American Federation of Teachers.

"Voters do make choices on very limited information, particularly the further down you get on the ballot," Butts said. "The endorsements matter in propelling a front-runner. But does that mean they will win without a runoff? No."

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AUSTIN SCHOOL BOARD FUNDRAISING

Candidates' contributions as of Sept. 25 filing deadline, with notable donors, amounts:

District 1

David "D" Thompson: $6,806.28

--Leadership for Educational Equity, $2,643.31 in-kind donations

--Austin Stone Community Church minister Adam Murphy, $1,040

--Tusk Strategies founder and former Mayor Michael Bloomberg campaign manager Bradley Tusk, $650

--Eric Klein, director of event promotion company C3 Presents, $600

Ted Gordon: $5,741.40

--Former Trustee Annette LoVoi campaign, $1,000

--Education Austin PAC, $3,000

Stanton Strickland: $450

--Katrina Daniel, Texas Department of Insurance associate commissioner, $100

P. Kevin Bryant: $0

District 4

Julie Cowan: $12,904.60

--Austin Kids First, $1,000 in-kind donations

--Austin school board President Vincent Torres, $200

Karen Flanagan: $330

District 6

Monica Sanchez: $1,500

Paul Saldaña: $10,000

--Education Austin PAC, $5,000

--SW Laborers District Council, $1,000

--Former Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton, $500

Kate Mason-Murphy: $100

District 7

Robert Schneider: $3,360

--Education Austin PAC, $3,000

Yasmin Wagner: $7,635

--Austin Kids First PAC, $1,000

--BusGuard bus camera company CEO Robert Leonard, $3,500

At-large District 9

Kendall Pace: $43,805.01

--Zeynep Young, CEO of Double Line Partners , a technology company that delivers education data systems and tools, $500

--Employment lawyers Dede Church & Associates LLC, $250

--Barbara Knaggs, former Texas Education Agency associate commissioner, $1,000

--Former President George W. Bush Chief of Staff Michael Meece, $500

--Uber Technologies CFO Brent Callinicos, $500

--Venture Capital Fund partner Rocky Mountain, $1,000

--HM International President Anne Smalling, $1,000

--Lora Zarbock, former information technology director at the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, $1,000

--Dr. Don Griffith, chief of urology at VA Medical Center, Houston, and spouse Beverly (Pace's parents), $12,000

--Austin Kids First, $1000 in-kind contribution

Andy Trimino: $0

Kazique Prince: $13,030

--Education Austin PAC, $10,000

--Former Trustee Annette LoVoi campaign, $1,000

--Texas Civil Rights Foundation attorney Joseph Berra, $50

--Gary Cobb, Travis County assistant district attorney, $100

Hillary Procknow: $0

Nael Chavez: $0

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