Campaign money and a new Broad prize

The last round of campaign finance reports before the Nov.  8 Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board election are in,  and Elyse Dashew continues to lead the 14-candidate crew.  As of Oct. 24,  she reported raising almost $35,000  (plus $3,000 in loans).  Following her in fund-raising are Tim Morgan, who has raised almost $19,000,  and Aaron Pomis with about $17,500.

Unless there's some heavy-duty giving in the last couple weeks of the campaign,  this is turning out to be a much lower-budget affair that most insiders predicted.  Going into the race, many expected it would take $50,000 or more to win.

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The Broad Foundation, which recently awarded its 2011 prize for urban education to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, announced today it's creating a new award to recognize excellence among charter-school chains. At the September event where CMS was awarded $550,000 in scholarships for the Class of 2012,  philanthropist Eli Broad voiced frustration with the slow pace of progress among school districts and hinted that he planned to create a charter prize soon.

The Broad Prize for Public Charter Schools,  to be awarded next year,  will provide $250,000 for college-readiness efforts in a large charter management group that demonstrates gains and achievement among low-income and minority students.  The 20 groups on the eligibility list include KIPP,  or the Knowledge Is Power Program,  which has a school in Charlotte.