Zak Koeske
Zak Koeske follows the money, governance and politics behind South Carolina’s education system, using projects reporting to turn complex programs into clear accountability coverage for The State. He is a projects reporter who concentrates on education issues, drawing on experience covering government, policing and schools in other metropolitan regions. His work stands out for sustained, document-driven reporting on charter school oversight, school vouchers and higher education finances, often produced as multi-part series rather than one-off stories.
Education projects and accountability reporting
Koeske’s current role is as a projects reporter at The State, a position that gives him room to develop longer-running investigations and explanatory work around education policy and spending. Before moving into projects, he covered state government and politics, a background that shapes his approach to stories about school governance, regulatory oversight and statewide programs. His coverage has been recognized with statewide press awards for enterprise reporting, investigative journalism and education beat reporting on charter schools, traditional public schools and voucher programs. Across these strands, he focuses on how public money is allocated, whether oversight bodies are meeting their responsibilities, and how decisions made in political and administrative arenas affect schools and students.
Charter schools and oversight of sponsors
A large portion of Koeske’s recent work examines South Carolina’s charter school landscape and the agencies that authorize and oversee charter schools.
He helped anchor “Unchartered Territory,” an ongoing series by The State about the state’s changing charter school landscape, including stories on how the SC Charter Institute’s leaders backed an out-of-state schools plan and later withdrew from it. In another installment, he reported that the SC Charter Institute has close ties to a school it is tasked with overseeing, highlighting potential conflicts of interest within the charter authorization process.
He has detailed how federal officials have been unsatisfied with South Carolina’s oversight of charter school sponsors, showing where state oversight may fall short of federal expectations. His reporting also documents the Charter Institute’s financial decisions, including a piece that found the agency spent $200,000 on travel, based on records he obtained.
More recently, he covered how a charter authorizer agreed to temporarily freeze its spending, illustrating how scrutiny of its finances and practices can lead to policy changes. In this charter work, Koeske distinguishes himself by threading together policy decisions, financial records and governance structures to show how charter growth and regulation are being managed across the state.
School vouchers and scholarship spending
Koeske closely tracks the rollout and functioning of South Carolina’s K-12 voucher and education scholarship programs.
One of his stories reported that most school voucher applicants were already private school students, a finding that cuts against common assumptions that vouchers primarily serve students moving out of public schools. In a related piece, he examined how voucher money was actually being spent, finding that most scholarship funds went toward computers and tuition. These articles show his emphasis on program mechanics and outcomes, not just political debate, by focusing on who benefits from the scholarship program and what kinds of expenses are being subsidized.
His earlier award-winning education beat work has included series on district travel, voucher spending and school landscaping, underscoring a consistent interest in how education dollars are used and whether the spending aligns with stated goals. This voucher coverage positions him as a reporter who brings empirical detail and financial accountability to conversations about school choice.
USC growth, governance and student costs
Beyond K-12, Koeske regularly reports on the University of South Carolina system, with a focus on growth, governance and what those trends mean for students and the public. He has covered USC systemwide enrollment surpassing 60,000 students, contextualizing the university’s expansion and its implications for capacity and resources. In another story, he reported on USC’s approval of a mixed-use project on South Main Street near the historic Horseshoe, showing how campus development interacts with surrounding neighborhoods and historic spaces.
He has detailed plans to transform the McKissick Museum building into a new campus use, illustrating how institutional priorities are reshaping long-standing campus landmarks.
His coverage also looks at student costs, including reporting on USC’s decision to extend a tuition freeze for in-state students while various fees continue to rise, highlighting the gap between headline tuition policies and the broader cost of attendance. Taken together, these pieces present a nuanced picture of USC’s trajectory, combining facilities planning, enrollment trends and affordability.
Teacher workforce, school performance and education politics
Koeske also reports on the classroom side of the system, including teacher supply and school performance, and connects those issues to the state’s education politics. He has invited readers to share their experiences with South Carolina’s teacher shortage, using a callout piece to gather firsthand accounts of how staffing gaps affect students and families.
His work includes multiple data-driven stories that list top-performing schools, such as charter schools, middle schools and elementary schools in the Columbia area, turning performance metrics into accessible, localized coverage. On the political front, he covers statewide education races, including profiles of challengers to the sitting state superintendent Ellen Weaver and reporting that her opponents have collectively outraised her in the superintendent’s race. These political stories sit alongside his policy and performance reporting, giving a fuller view of how electoral dynamics may influence the direction of education policy and oversight.
Across this strand, Koeske’s work offers both granular school-level information and higher-level insight into who is shaping education decisions in the state.
Before joining The State, Koeske reported on education, government and policing in the Chicago area and wrote for publications in the Pittsburgh and New York/New Jersey regions, experience that informs his current focus on structural issues in South Carolina’s schools. That background, combined with his projects role and award-winning education coverage, makes his work particularly useful for stories that involve regulatory questions, financial scrutiny or systemic impacts in the education sector.
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