Don’t Mess With Texas: Covering the Lone Star State’s Schools

Prior to joining The Texas Tribune in 2016 as its statewide public schools reporter, Aliyya Swaby covered education for the hyperlocal New Haven Independent in Connecticut. Now she’s responsible for a beat that stretches more than a quarter-million square miles. What has she learned from her in-depth project on school segregation? How is “white flight” impacting districts seeking to raise money for improvements through capital bond measures? Where has she found useful data to inform her reporting on a possible state takeover of Houston Public Schools, one of the nation’s largest districts? And what advice does she have for other reporters looking to put local reporting into statewide and national context?