Skip to main content Skip to site navigation

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.

Reporting on the Student Loan Debt Crisis? Here Are Insights From Experts
Experts tackle questions of fairness and the future of student loans and forgiveness.

September 21, 2022 By Marie Fazio of The Advocate | The Times-Picayune for EWA

A few weeks before President Joe Biden announced that borrowers who earn less than $125,000 could get up to $20,000 of student loans forgiven, experts at the Education Writers Association’s 2022 National Seminar discussed the fairness of forgiveness and the complexity of the student debt crisis in America.

EWA Radio

What Reporters Should Do Before and After a Layoff
Kavitha Cardoza speaks to several experts about how reporters can best prepare before and after layoffs occur. Get tips and resources! (EWA Radio Episode 300)

September 20, 2022 Kavitha Cardoza Subscribe to #ewaRADIO

If you’re a journalist who was laid off (or is concerned about your job after recent cuts at Gannett and Bustle Digital Group), what should you do? Get advice from our EWA Radio episode, and review the resources below.

Blog: The Educated Reporter

Investigating How Politics Is Affecting Education? Here’s What to Know
Amid an ‘all-time high’ in partisan polarization in the U.S., get background and tips to better cover the politicization of education and how it affects students.

September 13, 2022 By Samantha Hernandez of the Des Moines Register for EWA

Political influence over what students are learning in the classroom has been at the forefront in recent years, but its impact goes back decades.

Panelists discussed how public school districts and higher education institutions are handling the current political climate during the 2022 National Seminar in Orlando last July.

Educators are dealing with fatigue related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and political stress, including accusations of teaching critical race theory to school children, researchers said.

Blog: The Educated Reporter

Covering After-School Learning Amid the ‘Engage Every Student Initiative’? Here’s What Reporters Should Know
Leaders involved in summer learning and after-school programs share background and give advice to reporters.

September 7, 2022 By Kristen Griffith of The Baltimore Banner for EWA

Pandemic-relief funding helped develop a new initiative to boost quality summer and after-school learning programs.

Four leaders involved in out-of-school organizations told journalists what a quality program looks like and what to watch for after the Engage Every Student Initiative began rolling out in July. The federal government partnered with five private organizations to give students access to “high-quality, out-of-school time programs” as part of the initiative.

Blog: The Educated Reporter

Covering Student Loan Forgiveness: 5 Tips From Danielle Douglas-Gabriel
A Washington Post higher education reporter shares insights to help journalists cover the new federal student loan forgiveness program and higher education debt more broadly.

September 6, 2022 By Denise-Marie Ordway of The Journalist's Resource

This blog was republished with permission from The Journalist’s Resource, which published it Aug. 25, 2022. (Disclaimer: The author serves on the board of directors for the Education Writers Association.)

State of the Education Beat 2021
A Critical Profession at a Time of Crisis

Follow the Money: Digging Into School District Finances

Commands

Follow the Money: Digging Into School District Finances

Log in

Commands