CARMEL, Ind. — Early voting in Carmel has seen a steady stream of ballots trickling in. But in the race to fill two seats on the Carmel Clay School Board, cash donations have been more of a geyser. FOX59/CBS4 has reviewed the pre-election campaign finance reports for all four candidates and the two political action committees involved in the race, and found is a surprisingly high total for a school board contest: $187,000+. The race involves competing slates of PAC-endorsed candidates. Carmel Excellence was formed last year specifically targeting the two at-large seats in the upcoming election. One of the founders and chairman of the PAC, Erik Young, said the organization’s goal is to elect conservatives to the board. "I think we reflect the principles and the point of view of the constituents in Carmel," Young said. Carmel Excellence has raised $31,428 so far this year, but according to its filing the PAC has less than $2,000 in cash on-hand. Its top donors include Carmel residents Abby Rogers ($5,000), Robert Bush ($2,000), and Scott Warton ($2,000). The largest of the Carmel Excellence expenditures ($29,633) is nearly $3,900 in newspaper ads placed in The Current. To read a copy of Carmel Excellence's campaign finance disclosure report, click here. The endorsed candidates for Carmel Excellence are Robin Clark and Dina Ferchmin. The financial disclosure reports show Clark raised $22,570 while Ferchmin collected $34,878, tops among the school board candidates. Finance reports for both Clark and Ferchmin respectively can be found here and here. There are also a number of donors who gave to both Carmel Excellence candidates. The largest cash donation was Carmel resident Roxanna Morgan who gave $5,000 to each. There were also a trio of notable Republican who donated to Clark and Ferchmin. Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, US Representative Victoria Spartz and Indiana House Member Jerry Torr all cut $500 checks from their campaign accounts. Another similarity is how Clark and Ferchmin spent much of their campaign cash. They collectively paid nearly $30,000 to Iowa political consulting firm Right Strategies. "Right Strategies is a full-service campaign consulting firm, and they often will design and order materials for us and then invoice us," Clark explained in an email. "That is common practice with campaign consultants." The other candidates in the school board race are Kris Wheeler and Jon Shapiro. Shapiro has raised $16,799 this year and has $5,3271 left in his campaign account. His campaign finance report can be found here. His largest donors are four Carmel residents. Steve Jacobs, Ryan Pfenninger, Judy Weitzman and Martha and Scott Pauley all gave $1,000 each. Wheeler raised the least money of the candidates, $11,825, and her largest source of funding is herself. Wheeler’s finance report indicates she loaned her campaign $7,070. That report can be found here. Wheeler and Shapiro are endorsed by Support CCS, a PAC that is hoping to continue its success of backing the winning Carmel Clay school board candidates. In 2022, Support CCS candidates took two of the three district board seats up for grabs. Support CCS has been the top collector of campaign cash for this race. Its campaign finance disclosure, which can be found here, reports donations of $68,771 for the year. Top donors are Carmel residents Laura Miller ($5,588) and Dianne Hannah. Another donor is the current Carmel Clay Superintendent Michael Beresford, who gave $193. A $7,000 chunk of that money has been spent with political consultants Brown Progressive Strategies of Indianapolis. The website for the firm proclaims, "Getting Democrats Elected." Does that indicate Support CCS is using the firm to identify Carmel Democrats who may be likely to vote for Shapiro and Wheeler? Support CCS chairperson Jennifer Cashin says no. "It’s not just focusing on the Democrats in our community," Cashin said. "For the most part we’re hitting over 50,000 people within the community with our digital media campaign." Support CCS has a financial advantage down the stretch, $31,262 in ready cash in its campaign account, and plans to use it. “We definitely have some tactics that you’ll see deployed as we lead up to Election Day,” hinted Cashin. And that is with a week and half left in the campaign.