Education
Inside Our Schools
Help Us Report on How the Department of Education Is Handling Civil Rights Cases
Have you recently filed a civil rights complaint or do you have a pending case? We need your help to get a full picture of how the dismantling of the Office for Civil Rights is affecting students, parents, school employees and their communities.
A Gutted Education Department’s New Agenda: Roll Back Civil Rights Cases, Target Transgender Students
The Trump administration is subverting the traditional priorities of the department’s decimated civil rights office by making discrimination investigations practically impossible — instead enforcing its own anti-diversity campaign.
Idaho Gave Families $50M to Spend on Private Education. Then It Ended a $30M Program Used by Public School Families.
A Republican lawmaker said ending an Idaho program that helped public school students buy laptops and other materials wasn’t linked to the creation of a private school tax credit. The state’s most prominent conservative group says it should be.
In An Era of Big Money, the University of Illinois Shrugs Off Rules on Athletes’ NIL Deals
Records show that a fraction of the school’s athletes are complying with a state law requiring them to disclose endorsements. In the wild west of college sports, Illinois’ flagship university says the rules are losing relevance.
Featured Reporters
Impact of Our Reporting
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.
Illinois Has Virtually No Homeschooling Rules. A New Bill Aims to Change That.
Following a ProPublica and Capitol News Illinois investigation, an Illinois lawmaker has introduced legislation that would require families to tell their public school districts if they are homeschooling.
Local Reporting Network
A New Mexico District Says It’s Reduced Harsh Discipline of Native Students. But the Data Provided Is Incomplete.
Following an investigation by New Mexico In Depth and ProPublica, Gallup-McKinley County says it cut down on long-term suspensions for Indigenous children and implemented policy reforms. But the state has not made it easy to verify these claims.
Local Reporting Network
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
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.
Sharon Lerner
I cover health and the environment and the agencies that govern them, including the Environmental Protection Agency.
Andy Kroll
I cover justice and the rule of law, including the Justice Department, U.S. attorneys and the courts.
Melissa Sanchez
I report on immigration and labor, and I am based in Chicago.
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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