Jeremy Schwartz
Jeremy Schwartz is an investigative reporter for the ProPublica-Texas Tribune Investigative Initiative.
Need to Get in Touch?
Jeremy Schwartz is an investigative reporter for the ProPublica-Texas Tribune Investigative Initiative. He’s been a watchdog reporter in Texas for nearly a decade for the Austin American-Statesman and USA Today Network. His work has resulted in the overhaul of Texas’ inspection process for farmworker housing, sparked Congressional investigations of a failed Department of Veterans Affairs research program and uncovered misleading border arrest and drug seizure statistics maintained by the Texas Department of Public Safety. Schwartz has won the National Association of Hispanic Journalists’ Latino Issues award for his 2017 investigation into the political underrepresentation of Latinos in Texas cities and counties, and the Headliners Foundation of Texas Reporter of the Year award, among other honors. He’s previously reported on Latin America from Mexico City.
Despite Trump’s Win, School Vouchers Were Again Rejected by Majorities of Voters
In several Republican-led states, popular sentiment on the voucher issue has been overridden by the efforts of special interest groups and powerful governors who have enacted sweeping voucher programs that often benefit affluent families.
In Texas’ Third-Largest County, the Far Right’s Vision for Local Governing Has Come to Life
From cutting social services to changing election rules, Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare has pushed his agenda with an uncompromising approach. His term offers a rare look at what happens when hard-liners exert influence in a battleground county.
Greg Abbott’s School Voucher Crusade Is Three Decades in the Making
Greg Abbott has campaigned against members of his own party who do not support voucher programs. This fall, he may finally get the votes needed to pass a bill.
“I Refuse to Be Told What to Do”: Facebook Posts Show a Conservative School Board Member Rejecting Extremism
When reporter Jeremy Schwartz first learned of a local Texas activist who ran for school board on a far-right education platform, she seemed to embody the extremist movement he’d covered since 2021. Then her Facebook posts took a surprising turn.
Help ProPublica and The Texas Tribune Report on School Board and Bond Elections in Your Community
We want to hear about how heated elections affect the people learning, teaching and living in districts across Texas.
Former Far-Right Hard-Liner Says Billionaires Are Using School Board Races to Sow Distrust in Public Education
The largesse from billionaires Tim Dunn and brothers Farris and Dan Wilks has made its way into local politics across Texas. Courtney Gore, a Republican school board member in Granbury, says it’s part of their strategy to build support for vouchers.
She Campaigned for a Texas School Board Seat as a GOP Hard-Liner. Now She’s Rejecting Her Party’s Extremism.
Courtney Gore, a Granbury ISD school board member, has disavowed the far-right platform she campaigned on after finding no evidence that students were being indoctrinated by the district’s curriculum. Her defiance has brought her backlash.
Texas Appeals Court Throws Out Defamation Lawsuit Against ProPublica, Houston Chronicle
The news outlets’ 2018 investigation into famed Houston heart surgeon Bud Frazier provided a “fair, true, and impartial account,” the court said in its ruling, potentially bringing a close to the nearly six-year legal battle.
Texas School Districts Violated a Law Intended to Add Transparency to Local Elections
ProPublica and The Texas Tribune analyzed 35 Texas school districts that held trustee elections last fall and found none that posted all of the required campaign finance records.
Help ProPublica Report on Education
ProPublica is building a network of educators, students, parents and other experts to help guide our reporting about education. Take a few minutes to join our source network and share what you know.
A Texas Billionaire’s Associates Are Trying to Sink a School Tax Election via Their Dark Money Nonprofit
Tim Dunn’s public policy groups have helped ensure that tax hike language is attached to school bonds in the state. Now, that language is being used to undercut support for a bond in his hometown of Midland.