CampaignCNX+ lets an Illinois school board candidate text supporters who have asked to hear from the campaign, with the carrier registration filed for you, Campaign Verify guidance, automatic STOP handling, quiet-hours scheduling and a two-way inbox for replies. For a typical school board race, that means a handful of well-timed texts to a few hundred opted-in supporters: a welcome, a note when early voting opens on February 25, 2027, and reminders before April 6.
Before any of that, two things have to be true. Your list has to be built on consent, and your campaign has to have a committee that Campaign Verify can confirm. This post walks through both, then shows what CampaignCNX+ does in a school board race and what it costs.
Our guide to running for local office in Illinois covers petitions, filing and the full 2027 calendar for every local office, including school boards.
The school board calendar, briefly
- Nonpartisan: no party label on the ballot.
- Signatures: at least 50 qualified voters or 10% of the voters in the district, whichever is less (105 ILCS 5/9-10).
- Filing: November 16 to 23, 2026, with the county clerk or county board of election commissioners of the county where the district's principal office is located.
- Objections: due December 1 or 2, 2026.
- Ballot certified: January 28, 2027.
- Early voting: from February 25, 2027 (or March 12 where a February primary ran).
- Election: April 6, 2027.
Confirm anything specific to your district with your county clerk.
Consent comes first
School board races have a particular temptation: lists that already exist. A PTO directory, a sports team group chat, a class parent list, a neighborhood email list. None of these is consent to receive campaign texts. Neither is your petition. A petition sheet or sign-in sheet counts as consent only if it says so plainly and the date is recorded.
So build your own list:
- At the door during petition season. Carry a separate supporter sheet with a plain consent line, and ask after each signature. Our post on turning petition season into a supporter list has the exact wording and a weekly routine.
- At candidate forums and coffees. A sign-up sheet at the table, with the same consent line and a date column.
A list of 300 people who chose to hear from you is worth more than 3,000 who did not, and it will not get your number reported as spam.
The committee question
Political texting through carriers requires Campaign Verify. It costs $95 per two-year cycle and needs an EIN and a filing published by your election authority. Candidates with no committee are not eligible.
A committee is generally required once a campaign raises or spends more than $5,000 in a 12-month period (10 ILCS 5/9-3). If your race stays under that line and you still want to text through a registered platform, you would need to register a committee by filing a D-1 anyway. That is allowed, but be clear about the trade-off: once registered, a committee must file every required report until it files a Final Report, even if it never reaches $5,000. Late filings bring civil penalties. Talk to ISBE or an election attorney before you decide.
Timing favors April candidates. Campaign Verify requests made before November 15, 2026 expire January 31, 2027. Requests made on or after November 15, 2026 last to January 31, 2029. For an April 6 race, a request after November 15, around your November 16 to 23 filing window, covers your whole campaign. See Campaign Verify for local candidates for the steps.
What CampaignCNX+ does in a school board race
- Carrier registration filed for you, on 10DLC or toll-free. You do not have to work through carrier forms yourself.
- Campaign Verify guidance, including making sure the contact information on your filing can receive the PIN. Email or text arrives right away; mail takes 5 to 10 business days.
- Tags, groups and custom fields. Tag supporters by where you met them (door, forum, coffee), keep the opt-in date and source in a custom field, and put your supporter list in a group. Sends go to groups. When a contact texts START, their consent date and source are recorded for you.
- Two-way inbox. Parents may reply with questions about class sizes, the budget, or where you stand on a building project. Every reply lands in one inbox so you can answer it.
- Team members. Add a campaign manager or a trusted volunteer with an admin, manager or staffer role, and work the shared inbox together.
- Automatic STOP handling. Anyone who replies STOP stops receiving texts.
- Quiet-hours scheduling. Schedule the early voting text the evening before and let it go out at a reasonable morning hour.
- SMS and MMS. A plain text for reminders; a picture message for a forum flyer if you want one.
A school board text plan
Keep it short. Your supporters signed up for a few useful messages, not a stream.
Welcome (December or January):
Hi, this is Dana Ortiz, running for District 204 school board. Thanks for signing up. A few key dates coming. Reply STOP to opt out.
Candidate forum (if you have one):
The candidate forum is Thurs at 7pm at the high school library. I'd love to see you there. -Dana
Early voting opens (February 25, or March 12 where a February primary ran):
Early voting for the April 6 school board election is open. Your county clerk's website lists sites and hours. -Dana
Final weekend:
Election Day is Tues, April 6. School board is on your ballot. Thank you for your support. -Dana
The names and district here are examples. Keep each message under 160 characters so it goes as a single SMS.
What it costs: a worked example
This is an illustration. Your list size and number of messages will differ.
The campaign: 350 opted-in supporters by January, four messages each (welcome, forum, early voting, final weekend), plus a few dozen one-to-one replies.
- Outbound texts: 350 × 4 = 1,400 SMS, spread over December to April.
- Pay as you go: at $0.06 per SMS, 1,400 SMS is $84.
- Your number: $5 a month. From December through April, five months, that is $25.
- Campaign Verify: $95 per two-year cycle.
- Rough total: about $204 for the whole campaign, before any replies you send.
If you want a picture message for one send, MMS is $0.15 each; 350 picture messages would be $52.50.
For a bigger list, Basic is $55 a month with 1,000 SMS, which can fit a campaign that sends to around 1,000 people in a busy month. For a list the size of this example, pay as you go is enough. Our post on what it costs to text a local race has more worked budgets.
To start: 100 free SMS included. Your number is $5 a month, and nothing sends until it is bought.
The Illinois offer: through January 31, 2027, Illinois campaigns can get 1,000 free texts with a month of Pro, plus white-glove setup for $149 (normally $299). Details are on our Illinois political texting page.
Pairing texting with doors
Texting works best when people already know you. The supporters most likely to read your early voting text are the ones you met at their door. Beacon, our canvassing app, routes door walks and records each conversation; its school board campaign guide covers the door side of the race.
Get set up before February
Registration takes time, and February 25 arrives quickly. Open your account, sort out your committee, and keep collecting opt-ins at every door and forum. Start your CampaignCNX+ account.