Curtis Jared has emerged as the largest individual donor, so far, in the Springfield school board race.
The real estate investor, developer and manager has provided a total of $43,000 — a mix of cash and in-kind services — to three candidates on the April 2 ballot.
More than half went to candidate Chad Rollins, who just reported $25,500 in cash from Jared plus $2,500 worth of in-kind donations.
Jared also provided $15,000 worth of in-kind support, or $7,500 each, to candidates Maryam Mohammadkhani and Landon McCarter.
Campaign ads for Rollins, McCarter and Mohammadkhani have been displayed on digital billboards owned by Jared Outdoor Advertising on major Springfield thoroughfares for the past four months.
Jared has been involved in the Springfield school board race for at least four years, initially as a founding member of the opaque Truth in Politics group, and then by making donations in his own name.
So who is Curtis Jared? And why has he donated to help elect candidates to the board for a public school district he did not graduate from and his children do not attend?
Jared has not responded to past requests for an interview about the school board race or messages left this week — at his office, on his cell and in a short conversation with brother Andrew Jared — seeking comment for this story.
In mid-November, Jared appeared on KWTO, a radio station, to talk about his high interest in local government in general and the school board in particular.
The News-Leader has also published more than 30 stories in the past 20 years that quote or refer to Jared and detail, in part, his many projects and his past dealings with both the Springfield and Nixa school districts.
Initially hailed as model agreements, the funding mechanism that the Springfield and Nixa districts used to lease customized early childhood centers from Jared later drew scrutiny from Missouri lawmakers and state education leaders.
‘You don’t want everybody of the same mindset’
Jared has deep roots in the Springfield community. He graduated from Springfield Catholic High School and Drury University and is the grandson of Clarence Wheeler, who founded the Consumer Markets in 1948.
Jared was president of Cody’s Convenience Stores for more than seven years before starting Jared Enterprises. He is the president and CEO of that company, which specializes in real estate investment, development and management.
The shopping center owner is a developer in the Sunshine Towne Place project, which is bringing a sprawling retail development, including a new Target store, to the west part of Springfield.
Jared also followed in the footsteps of his father, Jerry Jared, by serving as a board member for the Ozarks Technical Community College Foundation. They provided most of the funding for the Jared Family Welcome Center, located on the Springfield campus.
In the mid-November radio show, Jared said the public’s interest in school decisions was heightened during the pandemic and he questioned changes in public school enrollment and test scores.
“For full disclosure, I send my children to a private school and I do that for various reasons,” said Jared, noting it was for “religious beliefs” and so they would have a “classical education.”
“When I see what is happening with our children and seeing them, how they progress, and just seeing the bonding and how safe the environment is and then I see what is happening in the public schools and the incidents that are happening, it just causes you to wonder why isn’t anybody doing anything about it,” Jared. “So I’ve gotten involved over the last few years.”
Citing incidents that happened in Springfield high schools in 2017 and 2018, Jared questioned if schools are doing enough to keep students safe.
He said concerns over safety, test scores, technology use and curriculum have driven a push, locally and nationally, for more parental rights in education.
More: United Springfield PAC gives $60K to fund TV ads supporting 3 school board candidates
Asked how to get more involved, Jared urged voters to research what candidates say and do in their personal lives because that will be reflected in what decisions they make on the board.
“When everybody says ‘These are nonpartisan races and we all need to be moderates,’ first you want good, constructive dialogue. You don’t want everybody of the same mindset. You want there to be critical thinking even on our school board. You want people to look at both sides of things,” he said.
Jared said when there is discourse — or a spate of split votes, which have been more frequent in recent years — one side gets labeled as disruptive or “troublemakers” because they are asking too many questions.
Founding member of Truth in Politics group
Jared was a founding member of the opaque Truth In Politics, an outside spending group. Organized as a 501(c)(4), it was not required to, and did not, disclose its donors.
Three candidates backed by the group were elected by voters, including Mohammadkhani in 2021 and Kelly Byrne and Steve Makoski in 2022.
The group paid for roughly $30,000 in TV attack ads prior to the 2022 election that targeted incumbent Charles Taylor, who lost that election. The ad falsely claimed that Taylor — first elected in 2016 — “hijacks meetings so he can push critical race theories over and over again.”
The ad juxtaposed stark images of Taylor against sunny stock images of children, in and out of classrooms, as a voiceover asks: “How does that solve the problem of Springfield students’ ACT scores plummeting? It doesn’t.”
The group — which listed an address in Jefferson City and a phone number in Washington, D.C. — urged voters to elect Byrne and Makoski but made clear neither had anything to do with creating the ad.
Jared, who was president of the group, did not return calls for comment about the ad but the group made a statement through member Royce Reding that it did not plan to back down.
More: ‘Truth In Politics’ group behind attack ad in SPS board race says it will not ‘back down’
Through a mix of financial or in-kind donations, Jared supported Mohammadkhani’s successful bid for the board in 2021, and the campaigns for Byrne and Makoski.
On the radio show in November, Jared predicted there would be an effort to defeat Mohammadkhani in 2024 and Byrne and Makoski in 2025.
Late last year, Mohammadkhani said she appreciated the support of Jared, and other supporters, in her effort to get out her message and win a second term.
The News-Leader recently asked McCarter and Rollins about the value of digital billboards and the support from Jared.
McCarter said voters ought to select candidates based on the “content of what we talked about on the issues.” He said Jared provided “about $7,500 worth of ad space” and it was his understanding that the previously reported in-kind gift “encompassed the entire in-kind” amount for the months-long advertising.
In response, Rollins said: “I’m very thankful to all my supporters who have donated to my campaign and trust me to be an advocate for SPS students, parents and staff. When special interest groups and donors start telling candidates what to do with their money, it begs the question, when else are they telling them to do?”
Rollins added: “My priority is to get my message out to voters, which is focused on academic achievement, safety, teacher support and quality learning environments for the district.”
Andrew Jared, marketing director for Jared Management and Curtis’ brother, provided an in-kind donation worth $2,500 for Rollins in this race.
A year ago, when Landon McCarter was making his first bid for the board, Andrew Jared provided an in-kind gift of $12,000.
Curtis Jared is the largest individual donor. The largest expenditure in this election, so far, is from the United Springfield PAC, which donated $20,000 each to candidates Susan Provance, Scott Crise and Danielle Kincaid. It was to be spent on TV advertisement.
Curtis Jared’s involvement in early childhood centers in Springfield, Nixa
It is not immediately known how many projects involving public or private schools Jared has been involved in over the years. But a trio of early childhood centers in Springfield and Nixa garnered significant interest and state-level scrutiny.
In the early 1990s, the state mandated districts provide early childhood special education to eligible children, ages 3 and 4. As the result of a lawsuit, the state was required to fully reimburse districts for that cost.
Districts were allowed to seek state reimbursement to buy or build facilities for the program and the amount was based on a formula that took into consideration the number of children served and the square footage. However, there was no funding cap in place.
In late 2010, the Springfield district worked with Wheeler Enterprises, Inc., a company owned by Curtis Jared, to find a space to serve as the headquarters for its early childhood special education program. It touted the ability to bring a wide range of resources and staff — previously scattered around the city — under one roof.
A couple years later, the Springfield district entered a second lease with Wheeler Enterprises, Inc. for another center, which was smaller. At roughly the same time, Nixa was working with the same developer to build a center on school property.
In 2015, state officials reviewed the leases in place and raised the alarm.
Of the $1.9 million Missouri spent annually at that time, to reimburse school districts to lease certain buildings across the state, 85% — or just over $1.6 million — was going to Springfield and Nixa for leases involving Jared.
Most of the other leases were less than $25,000 a year.
The leases in Springfield were $830,000 a year for two buildings — the Shining Stars Early Childhood Center, a renovated grocery store at 2525 W. College St., and the Bright Stars Early Childhood Center, a renovated church at 3447 W. Farm Road 168 in southwest Springfield.
Jared’s company extensively renovated the Shining Stars center, and that cost was factored in as part of the lease, as well as the smaller center.
The Nixa deal was more expensive, $875,000 a year, and more complicated. In that case, the district provided land behind the Faught Administrative Center, and the developer built the center — and retained ownership — while the state covered the hefty annual lease.
Originally, Nixa entered a five-year lease with Jared for the center that was renewable up to 25 years.
The state worked to put funding caps in place, shrinking the amount available annually for the Springfield and Nixa leases.
The Springfield district, which had also been leasing other space from Jared, negotiated a deal — using a mix of district and state funding — to vacate the smaller center and buy the larger one outright for $4 million. It was later renamed the Arthur Mallory Early Childhood Center.
More: Apparent rift between Springfield NEA, school district casts shadow over board election
Nixa school officials, and Jared, took a different tack.
In 2019, rather than end the lease, they worked with U.S. Rep. Eric Burlison — who was a state senator at the time — to try to extend the lease, at the annual reimbursement rate of $875,000, for another five years. That legislative effort fell short.
Jared said, at the time, that the Nixa center cost him “right at” $5 million but there were additional costs to service debt and take care of the building. He estimated it was worth $8.5 million.
The state reimbursement level dropped to roughly $100,000 a year and the district extended the contract for a short period and agreed to pay $900,000 from its reserves in June 2020 to take ownership of the building.
What voters will decide at the April 2 ballot
Seven candidates are vying for three spots on the Springfield school board. The April 2 ballot includes Chad Rollins, Landon McCarter, Susan Provance, Kyler Sherman-Wilkins and incumbents Maryam Mohammadkhani, Scott Crise and Danielle Kincaid.
The three candidates with the most votes will be sworn in and join board members Kelly Byrne, Judy Brunner, Steve Makoski and Shurita Thomas-Tate.
The role of the board is to set policy, approve a budget, and hire and evaluate the superintendent.
