Jacob Sanchez
Jacob Sanchez examines how policy, money and accountability in public education translate into conditions in classrooms, with a particular focus on Fort Worth ISD and other Tarrant County schools. He is education editor for the Fort Worth Report and covers local government, education and politics, with work also appearing in the Temple Daily Telegram, The Texas Tribune and the Texas Observer. His reporting centers on state intervention in FWISD, the district’s academic performance, and the financial and staffing decisions that determine whether reforms reach students.
FWISD governance and the Texas takeover
Sanchez is a primary explainer of how Texas’ takeover of FWISD is reshaping the district’s leadership, board structure and lines of accountability. He follows the state-appointed managers as they draft specific goals and limits for Superintendent Peter Licata, detailing how those measures will govern the superintendent’s work and the district’s path under state oversight. In coverage of the large pool of applicants seeking to lead FWISD under takeover, he quantifies how many candidates are realistically in contention and clarifies the criteria that narrow the field.
His work also tracks how governance changes play out in the community, including stories where teachers question their future as the takeover advances and parents confront FWISD leaders over what they describe as a growing trust gap. Across these pieces, he returns to the tension between state managers, district leadership and families, documenting how formal authority and informal influence interact at board meetings and public forums. Even when the focus is on procedural moves - such as the drafting of superintendent limits or new leadership structures - he consistently ties decisions back to who will feel them inside schools.
Instruction, STAAR performance and classroom reforms
Sanchez devotes sustained attention to FWISD’s academic performance on the STAAR exam and the instructional changes intended to lift those results. In one series of stories he reports that high school students are making progress on STAAR while FWISD still trails statewide performance, breaking out where gains are occurring and where the district lags behind Texas.
He also covers extensive classroom overhauls tied to the takeover, including a deep look at how FWISD redesigned instruction under the banner of “one district, one standard” for 25,000 underperforming students and how those changes are experienced by students themselves.
His reporting on turnaround campuses shows the link between instructional expectations and compensation, documenting a new pay structure that sets six FWISD turnaround schools at a $100,000 base salary for teachers in STAAR-tested and core courses, with differentiated salaries for other roles. In coverage of closures and campus reshuffles, he explains how staffing moves and school consolidations are justified as part of broader efforts to improve academic outcomes.
He has also reported on FWISD’s STAAR gains compared with the rest of Texas and framed those results against the longer timeline of exiting state takeover, underscoring that test score improvements and governance milestones must move together for the district to change course.
School finance, staffing and student services
A recurring strand in Sanchez’s work is the financial spine of FWISD’s reforms - tax rates, budget shortfalls, contract spending and cuts.
He has examined why a $49.8 million shortfall looms even after FWISD has closed schools and eliminated jobs, spelling out how frozen appraisals and other dynamics affect the district’s balance sheet. In parallel coverage, he shows that the district’s tax rate is staying level even as FWISD expects a larger shortfall, giving readers a clear connection between property tax decisions and pressures on the school system.
Sanchez frequently scrutinizes specific spending areas, including stories on school security and special education services that detail new FWISD allocations and how they fit into monthly spending decisions. He reports on the growth of speech therapy and special education contract costs to $3.2 million months after earlier cuts, highlighting how service levels and vendor arrangements evolve over time. His coverage of security upgrades at FWISD schools asks who pays after the first year, outlining the funding sources, timelines and obligations that will determine whether protective measures endure.
Together, these pieces show a reporter who treats budgets, contracts and staffing numbers as core elements of the education beat, not as appendices to classroom stories.
College pathways, workforce readiness and higher education leadership
Beyond K–12 governance, Sanchez reports on how local education systems prepare students for college and careers. A three-part series on career readiness examines whether Fort Worth can improve its economic development prospects by cultivating a more skilled workforce through high school and higher education. One installment looks at Irving ISD, where one out of five students graduates with industry credentials, using the district as a possible preview of FWISD’s future.
Another focuses on Tarrant County College’s new approach to degrees designed to move students more quickly from class to careers, showing how program design and credential structures respond to labor market needs.
He also covers institutions and leaders in higher education, such as a profile of University of Texas at Arlington President Jennifer Cowley that frames her appointment as breaking a glass ceiling and explores her hopes for opening doors to more diverse leaders. Across this portion of his beat, Sanchez connects local school systems, community colleges, universities and employers, treating education as a continuum rather than as separate silos. His track record across local government, education and politics has earned multiple awards from Texas Managing Editors in areas such as business reporting, deadline writing, breaking news and overall reporting, reinforcing his role as a reporter who blends policy fluency with impact-focused storytelling.
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Abdul Latif Jameel
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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.