In 2021 Erin Chan Ding first campaigned for a position on the Barrington 220 Board of Education (BOE). At that time she created a website “ERIN CHAN DING for 220.” Curiously, some might say suspiciously, the Website for Ding’s 220 campaign has been scrubbed from the internet and one must use a special search engine to attempt to find the deleted files. Ding, as we’ve previously reported, recently won re-election to the BOE and, shortly following that win, announced that she would be running in the Democratic Primary for the chance to be the Democratic candidate in the 2026 election for State Representative of the 52nd District ~ a partisan political position.
Ding’s scrubbed BOE website says several things about the conflict this run poses to her current position on the BOE and demands, in her own words, that she either immediately resign from her BOE position or forego her run for the 52nd District.
As some may recall, Ding set off a hot bed of controversy when, during the 2021 BOE campaign, she accepted the endorsement of the Barrington Education Association (BEA), 220 teacher’s union, and a donation from the BEA’s political action committee, IPACE. Ding, realizing the controversy in bringing partisan politics to what she took an oath to be a non-partisan position, explained why it was okay for her to accept the BEA endorsement and IPACE donation in 2021:
Each of us… candidates running for the … BOE are political candidates in a municipal election. What we are NOT supposed to be is partisan, affiliated with a particular political party. It is my commitment, if elected as a school board member, to maintain independence and making decisions and be free of influence from political parties and special interest groups. I will be accountable only to our community.
I have heard there’s been misinformation going around that has conflated the … BEA with a Political Action Committee, or PAC… The BEA is the union that represents more than 700 teachers and educational professionals in Barrington 220… this year, the BEA specifically stated it would endorse candidates with integrity, teamwork, a heart for racial and social equity and a sense of service over self… I am honored to have received one of four BEA endorsements.
The BEA is affiliated with a statewide organization called … IPACE, a nonpartisan, pro-education organization to which BEA members … can voluntarily contribute. IPACE regularly donates to pro-education, pro-public school candidates.
Because I was endorsed by the BEA, IPACE offered a contribution… to my campaign fund, Friends of Erin Chan Ding. Before accepting the donation, I researched IPACE to ensure it was strictly non-partisan and concluded that it is, as according to its website, recommendations for contributions… “are not determined by partisan politics.”
Our local BEA officers are also clear that I am not and will not be beholden to the teachers union or to any special interest groups. I have not and would never accept partisan donations that will compromise my ability to offer excellent stewardship to our community.
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Clearly, Ding recognized the import of being nonpartisan in her position on the BOE during her 2021 and 2025 campaigns for BOE. Yet, at the same time she was taking her oath of office to be a nonpartisan member of the BOE on April 22, 2025, pledging that she would:
…refuse to surrender (her) responsibilities to special interest or partisan political groups… avoid any conflict of interest or the appearance of impropriety which could result from (her) position, and shall not use (her) Board of Education membership for personal gain or publicity…,
Ding had already begun her quest for a partisan political position, using her BOE membership to bolster her candidacy (indeed her time on the BOE provides her only cited credentials on her social media and Erin for Illinois pages). Additionally, in a flagrant showing of impropriety, Ding posts D220 educators, whose discipline and contracts she votes on, as endorsers of her partisan run for the 52nd.
Then, sometime following the several posts that the Observer has put out regarding Ding’s blatant conflict of interest in remaining as a BOE member at the same time she is actively campaigning and raising funds for a partisan political position (see “Ding’s D220 Deception” and “Ding Doubles Down”), Ding scrubbed the internet of her very own acknowledgment of the impropriety of her serving on the BOE under these circumstances.
BOE President Ficke-Bradford has similarly acknowledged the impropriety of Ding remaining on the BOE under these circumstances where she unceremoniously, without Ding’s presence and without a public vote of the BOE, removed Ding from all of her BOE committee assignments.
Since pushing forward with her campaign for a partisan political position, Ding has
- Affiliated with a particular political party;
- Accepted partisan donations*, compromising her ability to offer excellent stewardship to our community;
- Failed to maintain independence; and
- Failed to remain free of influence from political parties and special interest groups.
In further affront to her BOE oath, Ding has also partnered with Barrington Area Dems (BAD) to promote her run for the 52nd District. BAD has posted a fundraiser being thrown by them for Ding and other local Democratic candidates, commenting on Ding as a “current School Board member” and “a dual-elected District 220 Board of Education member” with a “commitment to equity and inclusive school communities.” Ding even ‘liked’ the post from her personal “luvpiggies” instagram account:
The next regular meeting of the BOE is scheduled for this evening. This is a good opportunity for the public to remind Ding, Superintendent Winkelman, and the Members of the BOE, that the oath of office taken by each is not to be taken lightly. It is our belief that Ding is unfit to serve any longer on our Board of Education and it’s time for the Regional and D220 Superintendents and the BOE to take action in removing her.
D220 Superintendent: cwinkelman@barrington220.org
D220 Board of Education: stwang@barrington220.org, dclopton@barrington220.org, baltshuler@barrington220.org, sbradford@barrington220.org, lcollisterlazzari@barrington220.org, echanding@barrington220.org, hsrivastava@barrington220.org
Dr. Michael Karner Lake County Regional Superintendent of Schools: Mkarner@lake.k12.il.us
*Ding’s Erin for Illinois disclosures show $3,000.00 in donations from Friends of Josina Morita, the Democratic Committee formed to support Democratic Candidate Josina Morita for Office of Cook County Commissioner for the Democratic Party. These contributions were not made by Morita in her personal capacity, but specifically made from her Democratic Committee. https://www.elections.il.gov/CampaignDisclosure/CommitteeDetail.aspx?ID=NC181bT0yRx6vp8tMkKtSg%3d%3d
Related: “District 220 Board of Education meets this evening (07.15.25)” “Ding Doubles Down,” “Ding’s D220 Deception,” “Chan Ding running in Democratic primary in 52nd,” “Three (3) Democratic candidates queued to run for the IL 52nd District House seat in 2026”