Greta Díaz González Vázquez
Greta Díaz González Vázquez is an education reporter at KUT News who covers how policies, funding decisions and rapid growth in Central Texas shape the daily reality of students, families and educators.
She focuses on K-12 and higher education with particular attention to equity, accountability and the experiences of marginalized and bilingual communities in local schools.
Her coverage links test results, district budgets, school closures and state oversight to the people directly affected, turning complex education changes into specific stories from Austin classrooms and campuses.
Her background as a multimedia journalist and her reporting in both English and Spanish help her reach communities often left out of education conversations, reinforcing her focus on students and families facing systemic barriers.
Austin ISD funding, deficits and school closures
Greta devotes sustained reporting to Austin ISD’s finances, documenting a projected $181 million budget deficit and tracing how it moves from a line item into larger class sizes, reduced planning time and job losses.
In one story she explains that the district expects a $181 million deficit in its next budget, clearly outlining proposals to increase the number of students per teacher in elementary grades and cut planning time for middle and high school educators while the board still has not released a draft spending plan.
Another report breaks down the decision to cut 215 full-time educator salaries across elementary, middle and high schools, spelling out how many positions disappear at each level and connecting the reductions to the effort to close the deficit.
She follows the human impact of these financial choices, covering seniors’ final walk at Dawson Elementary before it closes and showing how that ceremony sits inside a broader pattern of multiple campuses shutting down after years of budget shortfalls.
Testing performance and language equity
Her work on academic performance centers on STAAR test results, translating technical Texas Education Agency data into clear explanations of how students in Austin ISD are doing from year to year.
In coverage of end-of-course exams, she reports that AISD high school and middle school students improved in every subject compared with the previous year, using those numbers to show steady district-wide gains rather than isolated success stories.
She also examines disparities within those improvements, highlighting how Spanish-speaking students are falling behind even as overall scores rise and pushing questions about language access, classroom support and whether district strategies are reaching bilingual families.
State oversight and curriculum changes
Greta tracks how state oversight shapes local decision-making, explaining the Texas Education Agency’s rejection of Austin ISD’s proposed partnership to buy more time and avoid a state takeover of failing schools.
She reports on how TEA’s decision affects timelines and options for the district, tying abstract accountability rules to concrete consequences for campuses that risk being labeled as failing under state standards.
Her coverage of RFK Jr.’s visit to an Austin ISD school to learn about healthy meals shows how national political figures intersect with local education policy, including the parents who protested his presence and the broader debates about school nutrition.
She also follows curriculum and holiday decisions, such as the district’s move to celebrate Dolores Huerta on March 31 instead of Cesar Chavez, explaining how AISD interprets state guidance on optional holidays and begins reviewing instructional materials to match that shift.
Higher education access and student opportunity
Beyond public schools, Greta reports on efforts to widen access to higher education, including a University of Texas scholarship created to honor a student whose goal was to help underprivileged peers reach college.
She explains how the scholarship will provide financial aid to eight to ten underprivileged students each year, framing it as part of a broader push to expand opportunity for students who face financial barriers to attending university.
Across these stories she keeps the focus on how policies, philanthropy and institutional decisions translate into real chances for individual students, returning repeatedly to themes of equity, accountability and support for communities that have historically been marginalized in education systems.
4 more education journalists.
Abdul Latif Jameel
Abdul Latif Jameel publishes long-form, research-led pieces on how emerging technologies and scientific advances reshape education, industry, and society. He writes for the Abdul Latif Jameel masthead at the intersection of learning, innovation, and applied science, with a focus on technology, skills, and the future of learning. He explains complex fields such as quantum sensing in clear, accessible terms, breaking down frontier science and tying it to real-world applications. His coverage links breakthroughs in sensing, data, and automation to training, curriculum, and lifelong learning. He treats education as an applied system connected to industry, policy, infrastructure, and human development. He reports in an analytical, explanatory style, using research, pilots, and large-scale initiatives to examine how technologies are implemented, evaluated, and scaled in learning and training environments.
Abril Preciado
Abril Preciado is an Emmy award-winning bilingual television journalist at FOX6 News Milwaukee who focuses on education, school crises and policy decisions affecting students, families and staff. She follows school communities over months, from emergency response through investigations, relocation plans and the first day back in class. Her reporting on the Lincoln Avenue School fire covers displacement, safety changes, rebuilding and the move to temporary space. She also uses public records to examine local officials, test official claims and connect government conduct to public trust. Before joining FOX6, she reported for Univision in Sacramento, covering the Farm Workers March, wildfires, politics and the Latino community, and contributed border reporting for a national radio network. She centers families, explains complex decisions clearly and focuses on the human effects of policy.
Adria Iraheta
Adria Iraheta is a community-focused reporter at Denver7, distinct for centering students, families and residents in every story about schools, neighborhoods and public services. She covers how decisions by school districts, local agencies and public institutions land in daily life, with a particular focus on Aurora and Arapahoe County. Her beat sits at the intersection of education, community issues, public services, safety, infrastructure, health and climate, from job cuts in a school district to a new transit safety app, DMV outages, street changes and record heat waves. With a decade of local television reporting experience, she reports on the ground in specific local scenes, using plain language, direct questions to officials and clear explanations to show how policies, programs and changes affect the people who live, study and work in Colorado communities.
Alan J. Borsuk
Alan J. Borsuk stands out for connecting what happens in schools to the policy and political decisions behind them. He writes in-depth K-12 education analysis for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and serves as a senior fellow in law and public policy at Marquette University Law School. His work focuses on Milwaukee Public Schools, school choice, literacy, teacher pipelines, and school accountability. He uses long-range perspective, detailed reporting, and structured analysis to explain how reforms unfold, why they stall, and what they mean for students and leaders. He has also written on vouchers, Teach for America, discipline, and teacher evaluation, drawing on decades as a reporter and editor on education and public policy.