AX130_7B93_9.JPG

Who could blame board incumbent Bobbie Regan for checking her mirrors, given the $79,000 raised by challenger Amy Kohnstamm?

(Brent Wojahn)

The stars are out. So are the checkbooks in the combative Portland Public Schools board race between incumbent Bobbie Regan and Amy Kohnstamm.

Amy Kohnstamm

Three weeks before the May 19 election, Regan and Kohnstamm have each raised more than $75,000 in aggressive campaigns that reflect their political connections and ambitions.

Regan - seeking her fourth four-year term on the board - has drawn financial support from U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici; Randall Edwards, the former state treasurer, and Nike's Julia Brim-Edwards; developer Robert Ball; former Multnomah County Commissioner Lisa Naito; and three members of the Portland City Council: Nick Fish, Steve Novick and Dan Saltzman.

Kohnstamm has matched that effort with the help of U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer; Robert Ridgley, former chief exec at Northwest Natural; Neil McFarlane and Tom Walsh, present and past general managers at TriMet; developer Doug Obletz; current school-board member Pam Knowles; and New Seasons' co-founders Stan Amy and Eileen Brady.

At stake? The evolving personality and priorities of a school board that has long been far too deferential in its relationship with superintendent Carole Smith and the PPS administration.

A board shake-up is guaranteed. Three of its seven members are jumping ship: Ruth Adkins, Matt Morton and Greg Belisle, all of whom voted, with Regan, for Smith's 28 percent pay increase after a year in which Smith missed four of the six student achievement targets she set with the board.

Mike Rosen, the watershed division manager at the city's Bureau of Environmental Services, is running unopposed for Belisle's seat. Julie Esparza Brown, a Portland State professor, and Andrew Davidson, a former student rep on the board, are vying to replace Adkins.

Paul Anthony and Jose Gonzalez are the most active of the four candidates who filed for Morton's chair at the table. Regan has draw three challengers for her Northwest Portland seat: Kohnstamm, Gretchen Hollands and Wes Soderback.

But as of 4 p.m. Friday, 82 percent of the money raised this year in the contested school-board races has gone to Kohnstamm ($79,816) or Regan ($75,152).

To lend those numbers perspective, Regan reported total contributions of $11,356 in 2007 and 2011, the last two years she was up for re-election. She ran unopposed in 2007, and virtually so in 2011.

This time around, however, the district's ongoing struggle with administrative salaries, classroom hours and graduation rates has intensified interest in the shape of the school board. And Zone 3 is the only race pitting an incumbent against a well-funded challenger.

As always, the financial disclosure statements provide a window on the candidates' most fervent admirers. Regan has significant support from Oregon political heavyweights who admire her work ethic and appreciate her endurance. She has received cash contributions in the $150-250 range from former PPS Superintendent James Scherzinger; former U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton; Jane Ames, a long-time school activist; and former board members Debbie Menashe and Doug Capps.

The in-kind contribution from Julia Brim-Edwards, who is advising Regan, is listed at $10,000. Also solidly in Regan's camp are Liz Kaufman and Mark Wiener, two of the city's premier political strategists.

Kohnstamm, meanwhile, is drawing on an extensive array of friends and family connections, as well as admirers of her work with Planned Parenthood, Mercy Corps and the Portland Schools Foundation. Her campaign has received $2,500 or more from Harsch Investment Properties, Stan Amy, Kohnstamm Pacific Corp., and Walsh, and smaller contributions from attorney Charles Swindells, Gwyneth Gamble Booth, KINK's Sheila Hamilton, and Warren Rosenfeld, the president of Calbag Metals.

In mailings that will soon blanket Northwest Portland, Regan will maintain she's been hamstrung by a stubborn, passive majority on the board. Kohnstamm will insist that it's far too late for the incumbent to argue she's part of the solution.

Smart, dedicated school supporters -- and tons of cash -- are on both sides of the argument. Tune in. Pay attention.

-- Steve Duin

sduin@oregonian.com

503-221-8597; @SteveDuin