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Who is Angelica Alfaro? 'A Rauner Democrat' challenges a supporter of real public schools in Chicago... Charter school leader running for Illinois State Senate in Chicago as a 'reform' candidate...

George N. Schmidt - January 26, 2016

Angelica Alfaro spoke to the March 15, 2014 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education (above) on behalf of charter schools, "choice," and the "Noble Network of Charter Schools." Now, in 2016, she is running "against the Machine" for the Illinois State Senate, in a campaign financed by Chicago billionaires like the Crowns and backed by reactionary organizations like "Stand for Children." (Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.)Angelica Alfaro, who has been a paid organizer for the Noble Network of Charter Schools fo nearly a decade, is now running for the Illinois State Senate against the endorsed candidate of a proven friend of real public schools. Alfaro's well financed campaign is utilized person-to-person and telephone contacts and aggressive grass roots organizing, while also trying to claim that she is not simply the candidate of charter schools and the privatization wing of corporate school reform. Numerous voters in the district have told us about how often they are hearing from Alfaro, and how many lies are being told on her behalf.

Substance has been watching Alfaro in action at meetings of the Chicago Board of Education and elsewhere for nearly a decade. She was an early graduate of the Noble charter school (back when it had only one or two "campuses") and was then hired -- not to teach but to be Noble's first "organizer." We met her at community meetings when she was trying to undermine those who brought the facts about the charter attacks on Chicago's real public schools to the public. For several years, she has either spoken at meetings of the Chicago Board of Education or organized the aggressive groups of "parents" who take the microphone to praises charters (and Noble in particular) while trying (often unsuccessfully) to read from carefully prepared scripts.

A recent message to Substance:

-The race to replace State Senator William Delgado pits one Democrat (Aquino, supported by Delgado) versus another Democrat (Alfaro, supported by Stand for Children).

Chicago Sun-Times:

Despite modest beginnings, Alfaro is getting heavy backing from some of the richest people in town for her first campaign.

Alfaro has received maximum individual contributions of $5,400 each from billionaire James Crown, wife Paula Crown, former Exelon Corp. CEO John Rowe and insurance firm chairman John Butler.

The Crowns have been major supporters of privately run, publicly funded charter schools, and Rowe and Butler are board members of the Noble Network of Charter Schools.

In 1999, Alfaro was in the first class at Noble, now one of the city�s biggest charter networks. And she has worked for Noble since graduating from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2007.

Alfaro says she�s not running merely to promote charter schools. She says she supports an elected school board, in line with the charter advocates� bitter enemies in the teachers union.

But the national pro-charter group Stand for Children is spending tens of thousands of dollars to run Alfaro�s campaign, records show.

Before he became the state�s Republican governor, a wealthy businessman named Bruce Rauner welcomed Stand for Children to open up shop in Illinois.

Aquino � who supports a halt on the approval of new charter schools � says Alfaro is a �Rauner Democrat.�

Alfaro fires back, calling Aquino a tool of the Cook County Democratic Party. Alfaro says party Chairman and county Assessor Joe Berrios asked her to quit the race to leave a clear path for Aquino, who worked for Berrios�s daughter Toni when she was a state representative.

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