School board races are typically low-budget affairs that draw local money from the likes of labor unions and local political parties.

But the $37,000 campaign that put Josh Reimnitz on the Minneapolis school board this fall may mark a new era as a race that drew money from national school-reform advocates, the Star Tribune reports.

The newspaper reported after the election on the improbable campaign of the 26-year-old who has been in the city two years.

The Reimnitz victory has put a spotlight on the role of Teach For America, a national volunteer program that has placed 30,000 college graduates in schools with mostly low-income students. Reimnitz is a veteran of the program, and the group backed his campaign with fundraiser help, the Star Tribune reports.