Follow the Money: Digging Into School District Finances

Webinar

Follow the Money: Digging Into School District Finances

August 2, 2017

When it comes to school district finances, the numbers aren’t easy to add up. But tracking and analyzing this information is a powerful tool to drive smart news coverage.

Veteran education journalist Tawnell Hobbs of The Wall Street Journal shares tips and tricks for digging into district operating budgets and actual expenditures, as well as salary databases, overtime requests, check registers and credit card accounts, purchase orders, and more. Learn how to evaluate fiscal data that’s readily available and make the most of open records requests.

What Reporters Need to Know About the Science of Reading
Educators offer tips on building trust with teachers on a sensitive subject

January 23, 2020 Stacia Cedillo

Are elementary school teachers teaching reading with research-approved methods? Or are they sticking with practices that studies indicate are less than ideal?

In a recent EWA webinar, two reporters joined a school administrator to discuss what reporters need to know about the science of reading, and how to report on these issues in any community.

Blog: The Educated Reporter

Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Public Money for Religious Schools
Case challenges Blaine Amendments, separation of church and state in school choice programs

January 22, 2020 Emily Richmond

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments today in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, a case that, if decided for the plaintiff, could push open the doors wider to allowing public dollars to follow students to private schools.

EWA Radio

A New Year on the K-12 Beat
What’s ahead in 2020: Equity, Civics, Safety Top Washington Post Reporter’s List
(EWA Radio: Episode 225)

January 21, 2020 Emily Richmond Subscribe to #ewaRADIO

Moriah Balingit, who covers education for The Washington Post, discusses what she sees as key story lines for the K-12 beat in 2020, from educational equity to civics and campus safety. Are public schools adequately preparing young people to become engaged and informed citizens? What’ the potential impact on students and families of the Trump administration’s plans to cut access to food stamps? How are school safety measures affecting the climate on campus?

Blog: The Educated Reporter

Finding the Details: How to Report on Seclusion and Restraint in Schools
News investigations put spotlight on troubling practices

January 16, 2020 By Mary Niederberger for EWA

When former WAMU education reporter Jenny Abamu first saw a seclusion room, she was shaken.

She described the spaces she viewed in Fairfax County, Virginia: rooms built within rooms with no windows or ventilation, and discolorations where students had defecated on the floor.

“Some of those kids were in that room over a hundred times in a school year,” Abamu recalled. “People thought it was normal. I was scared. I thought, ‘This is not normal.’”

Blog: Higher Ed Beat

How to Help First-Generation Students Persist Through College
Experts say assisting students takes a 'larger cultural shift'

January 14, 2020 Danielle Dreilinger

When Pete Gooden went to college, he had an all-too-common experience.

“As a first-generation student, I was just coasting through college, and I was just trying to navigate on my own without support,” he said.

Eventually, he dropped out. After earning his degree at age 30, Gooden began working for KIPP Through College Chicago, where he’s now the director—amazed to find a program that offered the help he once needed.

State of the Education Beat
Nation’s Education Reporters Confident They’re Making a Difference

Follow the Money: Digging Into School District Finances

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Follow the Money: Digging Into School District Finances

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