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Education

Inside Our Schools

Programs for Students With Hearing and Vision Loss Harmed by Trump’s Anti-Diversity Push

Citing concerns about DEI, the U.S. Department of Education has halted funding for programs that support students with combined hearing and vision loss in eight states. “How low can you go?” one advocate asked. “How can you do this to children?”

by Jodi S. Cohen and Jennifer Smith Richards,

These Charter Superintendents Are Some of the Highest Paid in Texas. Their Districts Are Among the Lowest Performing.

Three charter school districts in Texas underreported the compensation paid to their top leaders. The same three districts have also had failing or near-failing performance ratings in recent years.

by Ellis Simani, ProPublica and Lexi Churchill, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune,

Three Chicago Schools Get Expensive STEAM Makeovers. Can the Effort Reverse Declining Enrollment?

After years of allowing chronically underenrolled public schools to struggle, Chicago is spending millions to transform three into STEAM academies, hoping to draw families back to the neighborhood schools that many of them abandoned.

by Mila Koumpilova, Chalkbeat, and Jennifer Smith Richards, ProPublica,

The Leader of Trump’s Assault on Higher Education Has a Troubled Legal and Financial History

Leo Terrell’s past is at odds with Trump’s description of an “incredibly successful” attorney. Documents obtained by ProPublica and The Chronicle of Higher Education reveal a trail of legal disputes and unpaid debts.

by Peter Elkind, ProPublica, and Katherine Mangan, The Chronicle of Higher Education,

Featured Reporters

Portrait of Jodi S. Cohen Jodi S. Cohen
Portrait of Alec MacGillis Alec MacGillis
Jennifer Smith Richards

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Crackdown on Student Threats

A Tennessee School Agreed to Pay $100,000 to Family of 11-Year-Old Student Arrested Under School Threats Law

Under the settlement, the Chattanooga charter school also agreed to implement training on how to handle threats of mass violence at school, including differentiating between “clearly innocuous statements” and “imminent” violence.

by Aliyya Swaby, ProPublica, and Paige Pfleger, WPLN/Nashville Public Radio,

The Price Kids Pay

Illinois Lawmakers Ban Police From Ticketing and Fining Students for Minor Infractions in School

The legislation comes after a ProPublica-Chicago Tribune investigation revealed that even though state law bans schools from fining students directly, districts skirt the law by calling on police to issue citations for violating local ordinances.

by Jodi S. Cohen and Jennifer Smith Richards,

Texas Lawmakers Want a Charter School Network to Stop Paying Its Superintendent Nearly $900K. The School Board Says No.

The rebuke from lawmakers and charter school leaders came after an investigation from ProPublica and The Texas Tribune revealed that Salvador Cavazos, who oversees fewer than 1,000 students, is among the most well-paid superintendents in the country.

by Lexi Churchill, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, and Ellis Simani, ProPublica,

Series

Series: Crackdown on Student Threats: Tennessee’s Harsh Punishment of Kids

Series: School Wars: How Battles Over Vouchers, Book Bans, COVID-19 and More Are Harming Public Education

Series: Segregation Academies: Decades After Desegregation, Private Schools Still Divide

Series: Inside Shrub Oak: An Unregulated Boarding School for Autistic Students

Series: State of Disrepair: Inside Idaho’s Crumbling Schools

Series: Chaos at the School Board: Unraveling America’s School Board Unrest

Series: Unequal Discipline: Native Students Face Harsh Discipline in New Mexico

Series: The Price Kids Pay: How Schools and Police Work Together to Punish Students

Series: The Pandemic and Illinois Schools: A Digital Divide, Vulnerable Students and Hidden Data

Series: Grace: A Failure in Michigan’s Juvenile Justice System

Series: Lessons Lost: How Federal Schools Are Failing Native American Students

Series: Dollars for Profs: The Lucrative World of Academic Moonlighting

Series: The Quiet Rooms: Children Locked Away in Illinois Schools

Series: Campus Complicity: Faculty Sexual Misconduct in Illinois

Series: Financial Aid Loophole: Giving Up Guardianship to Get Aid

Series: The $3 Million Research Breakdown: University of Illinois at Chicago’s Troubling Study

Series: The Failure Track: Alternative Schools and Accountability

Series: Evaluating Charter Schools: Questions About Public Transparency and Private Profits

Series: College Debt: How College Debt is Putting the Squeeze on Families

290 stories published since 2015

Help ProPublica and The Texas Tribune Report on Education

by Lexi Churchill and Jasmine Aguilera, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, and Ellis Simani, ProPublica,

Texas Private Schools Hire Relatives and Enrich Insiders. Soon They Can Do It With Taxpayer Money.

by Lexi Churchill, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, and Ellis Simani, ProPublica,

New Uvalde Records Reveal Details About School Safety Concerns and Shooter’s Behavioral Issues

by Lomi Kriel, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, and Alex Nguyen and Paul Cobler, The Texas Tribune,

Alaska Ignored Warning Signs of a Budget Crisis. Now It Doesn’t Have Funding to Fix Crumbling Schools.

by Emily Schwing, KYUK,

Idaho Schools Consistently Break Disability Laws. Parents Say They’re Not Doing Enough to Fix the Problem.

by Becca Savransky, Idaho Statesman,

Middle School Cheerleaders Made a TikTok Video Portraying a School Shooting. They Were Charged With a Crime.

by Aliyya Swaby,

George Mason Is the Latest University Under Fire From Trump. Its President Fears an “Orchestrated” Campaign.

by Katherine Mangan, special to ProPublica,

100 Students in a School Meant for 1,000: Inside Chicago’s Refusal to Deal With Its Nearly Empty Schools

by Mila Koumpilova, Chalkbeat, and Jennifer Smith Richards, ProPublica,

Tennessee’s Law on School Threats Ensnared Students Who Posed No Risks. Two States Passed Similar Laws.

by Aliyya Swaby,

Trump Wants to Cut Tribal College Funding by Nearly 90%, Putting Them at Risk of Closing

by Matt Krupnick for ProPublica,

A Tennessee School Agreed to Pay $100,000 to Family of 11-Year-Old Student Arrested Under School Threats Law

by Aliyya Swaby, ProPublica, and Paige Pfleger, WPLN/Nashville Public Radio,

Illinois Lawmakers Ban Police From Ticketing and Fining Students for Minor Infractions in School

by Jodi S. Cohen and Jennifer Smith Richards,

A Tennessee School Expelled a 12-Year-Old for a Social Post. Experts Say It Didn’t Properly Assess If He Made a Threat.

by Aliyya Swaby,

A Teacher Dragged a 6-Year-Old With Autism by His Ankle. Federal Civil Rights Officials Might Not Do Anything.

by Jennifer Smith Richards and Jodi S. Cohen,

The Department of Education Forced Idaho to Stop Denying Disabled Students an Education. Then Trump Gutted Its Staff.

by Becca Savransky, Idaho Statesman,

Help Us Report on How the Department of Education Is Handling Civil Rights Cases

by Asia Fields, Ashley Clarke, Jodi S. Cohen and Jennifer Smith Richards,

A Gutted Education Department’s New Agenda: Roll Back Civil Rights Cases, Target Transgender Students

by Jennifer Smith Richards and Jodi S. Cohen,

Idaho Gave Families $50M to Spend on Private Education. Then It Ended a $30M Program Used by Public School Families.

by Audrey Dutton,

In An Era of Big Money, the University of Illinois Shrugs Off Rules on Athletes’ NIL Deals

by Stacy St. Clair, Chicago Tribune, and Jodi S. Cohen, ProPublica,

A Texas School Board Cut State-Approved Textbook Chapters About Diversity. A Board Member Says Material Violated the Law

by Jeremy Schwartz, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, and Dan Keemahill, The Texas Tribune,

A University, a Rural Town and Their Fight to Survive Trump’s War on Higher Education

by Molly Parker, Capitol News Illinois,

How Texas Conservatives Use At-Large School Board Elections to Influence What Students Learn

by Jeremy Schwartz, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, and Dan Keemahill, The Texas Tribune, photography by Shelby Tauber for ProPublica and The Texas Tribune,

Parents Sue Trump Administration for Allegedly Sabotaging Education Department’s Civil Rights Division

by Jennifer Smith Richards and Jodi S. Cohen,

Texas Lawmakers Want a Charter School Network to Stop Paying Its Superintendent Nearly $900K. The School Board Says No.

by Lexi Churchill, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, and Ellis Simani, ProPublica,

Inside the Schools Alaska Ignored

by Taylor Kate Brown,

Massive Layoffs at the Department of Education Erode Its Civil Rights Division

by Jodi S. Cohen and Jennifer Smith Richards,

Two Transgender Girls, Six Federal Agencies. How Trump Is Trying to Pressure Maine Into Obedience.

by Callie Ferguson and Erin Rhoda, Bangor Daily News, and Jennifer Smith Richards and Jodi S. Cohen, ProPublica,

She’s on a Scholarship at a Tribal College in Wisconsin. The Trump Administration Suspended the USDA Grant That Funded It.

by Matt Krupnick for ProPublica,

This Charter School Superintendent Makes $870,000. He Leads a District With 1,000 Students.

by Ellis Simani, ProPublica, and Lexi Churchill, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune,

A Rural Alaska School Asked the State to Fund a Repair. Nearly Two Decades Later, the Building Is About to Collapse.

by Emily Schwing, KYUK,

Illinois Has Virtually No Homeschooling Rules. A New Bill Aims to Change That.

by Molly Parker and Beth Hundsdorfer, Capitol News Illinois,

Education Department “Lifting the Pause” on Some Civil Rights Probes, but Not for Race or Gender Cases

by Jennifer Smith Richards and Jodi S. Cohen,

“We’ve Been Essentially Muzzled”: Department of Education Halts Thousands of Civil Rights Investigations Under Trump

by Jennifer Smith Richards and Jodi S. Cohen,

A New Mexico District Says It’s Reduced Harsh Discipline of Native Students. But the Data Provided Is Incomplete.

by Bryant Furlow, New Mexico In Depth,

Idaho Passed $2 Billion in Funding for School Building Repairs. It’s Not Nearly Enough.

by Becca Savransky, Idaho Statesman,

Elon Musk’s Team Decimates Education Department Arm That Tracks National School Performance

by Jodi S. Cohen and Jennifer Smith Richards,

The Department of Education Told Employees to End Support for Transgender Students

by Jennifer Smith Richards and Jodi S. Cohen,

First Came the Warning Signs. Then a Teen Opened Fire on a Nashville School.

by Aliyya Swaby, ProPublica, and Paige Pfleger, WPLN/Nashville Public Radio,

Hoping to “Trump Proof” Students’ Civil Rights, Illinois Lawmakers Aim to End Police Ticketing at School

by Jodi S. Cohen and Jennifer Smith Richards,

In the Wild West of School Voucher Expansions, States Rely on Untested Companies, With Mixed Results

by Alec MacGillis,

How Many Students Have Been Expelled Under Tennessee’s School Threats Law? There’s No Clear Answer.

by Aliyya Swaby,

How Segregated Are Your Local Private Schools? We Made a Tool to Help You Find Out.

by Jennifer Berry Hawes,

ProPublica Releases New Private School Demographics Lookup

by Sergio Hernández, Nat Lash and Ken Schwencke,

Private School Demographics

by Sergio Hernández, Nat Lash and Brandon Roberts,

On a Mission From God: Inside the Movement to Redirect Billions of Taxpayer Dollars to Private Religious Schools

by Alec MacGillis,

Two Families Sue After 11-Year-Old and 13-Year-Old Students Were Arrested Under Tennessee’s School Threat Law

by Aliyya Swaby, ProPublica, and Paige Pfleger, WPLN/Nashville Public Radio,

Feds Fine Baker College $2.5 Million for Deceptive Marketing That Left Students With Debts and Regrets

by Anna Clark, ProPublica, and David Jesse, The Chronicle of Higher Education,

Arizona Regulators Closed a Failing Charter School. It Reopened as a Private Religious School Funded by Taxpayers.

by Eli Hager,

The Story of One Mississippi County Shows How Private Schools Are Exacerbating Segregation

by Jennifer Berry Hawes, data analysis by Nat Lash, with additional reporting by Mollie Simon,

Illinois’ AG Said It’s Illegal for Schools to Use Police to Ticket Students. But His Office Told Only One District.

by Jodi S. Cohen and Jennifer Smith Richards,

What We’re Watching

During Donald Trump’s second presidency, ProPublica will focus on the areas most in need of scrutiny. Here are some of the issues our reporters will be watching — and how to get in touch with them securely.

Learn more about our reporting team. We will continue to share our areas of interest as the news develops.

Photo of Sharon Lerner
Sharon Lerner

I cover health and the environment and the agencies that govern them, including the Environmental Protection Agency.

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Andy Kroll

I cover justice and the rule of law, including the Justice Department, U.S. attorneys and the courts.

Photo of Melissa Sanchez
Melissa Sanchez

I report on immigration and labor, and I am based in Chicago.

Photo of Jesse Coburn
Jesse Coburn

I cover housing and transportation, including the companies working in those fields and the regulators overseeing them.

If you don’t have a specific tip or story in mind, we could still use your help. Sign up to be a member of our federal worker source network to stay in touch.

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    A Florida Home Insurer Was Allowed to Bypass the Courts During Claim Disputes. It Won More Than 90% of the Time.

    State legislators and executives at Citizens Property Insurance touted mandatory arbitration as advantageous for both consumers and insurers. In practice, homeowners were left with few avenues for recourse when their claims were denied.

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    ProPublica and Other News Organizations Fight to Unseal Texas AG Ken Paxton’s Divorce Records

    A group of eight state and national media organizations are arguing that the records are of public interest, especially in light of Paxton’s bid for a U.S. Senate seat.

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