Wisconsin School Board Races Targeted by National Conservative Group
1776 Project PAC, funded by billionaire Richard Uihlein, has a familiar agenda.
School classroom. (Pixabay License).
For decades, school board races were largely ignored, rarely contested contests between candidates promoted by teachers unions and local business groups.
But high-profile controversies including vaccine mandates, LGBTQ+ rights and teaching about race and American history have led to big gains for Republicans on Wisconsin’s school boards.
National political groups have taken notice – and don’t want to lose that momentum.
The New York-based 1776 Project PAC has spent more than $40,000 into 26 local school board races in Wisconsin this spring, according to recent campaign finance reports.
In 2024, the PAC endorsed 24 candidates for Wisconsin school boards, spending about $60,000. The year before, the group backed about 50 candidates.
Stefano Forte, executive director of the 1776 Project PAC, said his group wants to ensure candidates talking about “kitchen table” issues are getting elected so Wisconsin’s high standards and educational rankings stay high.
“What we’re trying to do is make sure we keep Wisconsin schools some of the best in the nation by getting quality school board candidates elected to their local school boards,” Forte said.
For the April 1 race, candidates from across Wisconsin, including 13 contenders from Waukesha County, have received $41,134 in donations.
Forte said the candidates are either recommended by local groups or ask for the endorsement. He said the 1776 Project PAC has a 61 percent success rate in getting people elected.
Evan Vorpahl is a senior researcher for True North Research, a watchdog group that focuses on fair courts and voting rights. He said when national groups pump so much money into low-turnout, low-information elections, there is no way to counter their messaging.
“They’re not spending this much money for nothing,” Vorpahl said. “For these school board elections, part of this is building up a bench for these candidates to be a launching point for political careers.”
According to campaign finance reports filed by the 1776 Project PAC, the Logan Circle Group, a PR firm based in Washington, D.C., paid for the production and postage of candidates’ mailings.
In 2021, Logan Circle Group threatened to sue journalists on behalf of then-U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz after they reported that President Donald Trump was distancing himself from the Republican lawmaker in the aftermath of the federal probe looking into whether Gaetz had sex with a 17 year old and paid her for it.
The 1776 Project PAC was launched in 2021 with financial backing from GOP mega donor and Illinois billionaire Richard Uihlein, owner of Pleasant Prairie-based Uline, to support school board candidates who said they would overturn the teaching of “critical race theory.”
The term critical race theory has become a catch-all phrase among conservatives critical of how race and social issues are being taught in the K-12 education system. Most public school officials across the country say they do not teach the theory.
Other priorities of the PAC include improving reading scores, banning transgender students from girls locker rooms, civics education and parental rights, according to the organization’s website.
Forte said those are just a few of the group’s interests.
“There are a ton of issues that we advocate for,” Forte said. “Budget transparency, making sure we are working with teachers to get what they need, keeping test scores high and making sure that we keep merit in schools.”
Alyssa Bowen, deputy director of True North, said the language of parental rights is not new, but efforts have focused increasingly on politically divisive cultural issues.
“It’s not really obviously about all parents’ rights, it is about the rights of a few individuals who are hyper focused on the culture wars,” Bowen said.
Bowen said when unelected billionaires come into a community to influence local elections, it is “fundamentally undemocratic.”
Michael Ford, who leads the Wisconsin Institute for Citizenship and Civic Dialogue and has long studied school boards, said there has not been much organized interest group spending from national left-leaning groups.
“There seems to be more of a fragmented group of national groups involved here and there, based on specific issues, but nothing like the Moms for Liberty-level for organization,” Ford said.
The 1776 Project PAC isn’t the only national interest group to take notice of Wisconsin.
The national conservative group Americans for Prosperity, funded by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, got involved in the Kenosha School Board race in 2014 after the board approved new union contracts.
Americans for Prosperity is not supporting any specific local school board races this year, but it is still very involved in education, including parental choice and educational freedom.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, funded by the Bradley Foundation, has also taken an interest in local school boards.
The firm’s Restoring American Education project provides resources on legal and policy issues.
WILL has said it provides local school boards with information members can’t get elsewhere.
WILL did not want to comment for this story.
Wisconsin school board races attract attention from national conservative groups was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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