Progressive group targets GOP donations from PAC tied to charter school CEO

A progressive advocacy group is calling for Republicans who took money from a political action committee founded by the head of one of Arizona’s largest charter school networks to return it as the PAC is being investigated for alleged campaign finance law violations. 

Glenn Way is the CEO of Charter One LLC and the chairman of the Educational Freedom Fund PAC, which contributed $25,500 to Republican candidates for the Arizona House of Representatives and Senate in the 2022 and 2024 elections.

Way founded American Leadership Academy charter school in 2009, and has since expanded it to 27 campuses in Arizona, six in North Carolina and three in South Carolina. Charter One is paid millions of dollars each year to manage the schools. 

The complaint, filed in January 2025 by a law firm connected to Democrats and on behalf of a former school teacher, was forwarded to Attorney General Kris Mayes’ office by the Arizona Secretary of State last year, the Arizona Mirror confirmed via public records. 

The Arizona Attorney General’s Office said its investigation into the Educational Freedom Fund PAC is ongoing. The complaint and news of the investigation were first reported on by the Mirror. 

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“Taxpayer dollars meant to fund our schools are going into Republican campaigns,” Phoenix Elementary School District school board President Erika Ovalle told reporters Thursday morning at a press conference organized by the progressive advocacy group Opportunity Arizona. 

Ovalle and others who spoke said they are asking the 25 Republican lawmakers who received these donations to return them. Some of the candidates are up for reelection while others are no longer at the state legislature. 

“I am horrified that our schools have become a partisan issue,” said former Democratic state lawmaker Judy Schwiebert, who is running this year for an at-large seat in the Maricopa County Community College District. 

Schwiebert directly called out her 2024 Republican challenger, Sen. Shawnna Bolick, for taking $1,000 during that election cycle. Bolick ultimately defeated Schwiebert.

Arizona law bans corporate entities from giving money to candidates, whether that is directly or by routing it through a PAC that could otherwise make direct contributions. A violation is a class 2 misdemeanor for the organization making the donation and a class 6 felony for the individual who makes the contribution. 

Campaign finance reports show that the PAC only had two contributors: Charter One LLC, which poured nearly $200,000 into the political committee, and Youssef Khalaf, who was the PAC’s treasurer and gave $9,000.

But the committee made $83,200 in direct candidate contributions, far more than the $9,000 that it received from Khalaf — a violation of Arizona’s ban on corporate political giving, the complaint alleged. The complaint was filed by Kerry Baker, a former teacher who served in the Paradise Valley Unified School District and works as a consultant for the Arizona Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union.

In a response to the complaint, attorneys representing the PAC defended the contributions as legal — but said if they were, in fact, illegal, the blame lies squarely on Khalaf, who was fired as treasurer after the complaint was filed. 

The PACs attorneys said the contributions to the GOP legislative candidates that came indirectly from Charter One shouldn’t be considered corporate money — even though the Educational Freedom Fund reported it as such — because any assets that Charter One has are really Way’s personal assets.

Last year, after the complaint was filed, the Educational Freedom Fund replaced Khalaf with a compliance firm connected with PACs that have also been accused of mishandling funds. 

The committee’s attorneys argued that the proactive move to “strengthen their compliance” and prevent this issue again should be rewarded by dismissing the complaint. 

In an interview with the Mirror, Schwiebert contended that the lawmakers should have known that the donations were possibly illegal. She argued that, in her time campaigning, she has refused donations and been aware of who was donating to her campaign and how. 

She also said that her calling out the Republican lawmakers doesn’t mean she is against “school choice.” 

“Frankly, I believe we have an abundance of school choice in Arizona,” Schwiebert said. “I don’t believe that taxpayers’ money should go to campaigns.” 

Whether the money from Charter One sent to the PAC is taxpayer money is in dispute. Attorneys representing the PAC have argued that it was Way’s personal assets, and the complaint against the PAC’s contributions doesn’t allege that any government money was spent improperly. 

Former Attorney General Terry Goddard also decried the PAC donations in a statement released by Opportunity Arizona. 

“We cannot allow public education dollars to become a political slush fund,” Goddard said. “Taxpayers deserve answers, and anyone found to have violated the law must be held accountable.”

In 2021, former Attorney General Mark Brnovich pursued two individuals for similar violations in Kingman. 

The candidates the PAC contributed to are: 

• Ben Toma 
• David Marshall
• Tatiana Pena
• Cory McGarr 
• David Livingston
• Teresa Martinez 
• Julie Willoughby
• Justine Wadsack
• Laurin Hendrix
• David Gowan
• Warren Petersen
• J.D. Mesnard
• Shawnna Bolick
• Frank Carroll
• Ken Bennett
• Gail Griffin 
• Justin Wilmeth
• Matt Gress
• Jeff Weninger
• Carine Werner
• T.J. Shope
• Walt Blackman 
• Michael Carbone
• Sine Kerr
• Janae Shamp

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