Dear Reader,
There are just 10 days left in our end-of-year campaign and we are $5,000 away from reaching our $60,000 fundraising goal. And since the last $5,000 in gifts will be tripled, your gift will go 3x as far.Â
If you haven’t given yet, I’d like to encourage you to give now! Contributions from individuals like you make a significant impact on our newsroom’s sustainability.
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We know you read our stories,
but do you know the legislative impact they are having?
Take our discipline coverage, which is making significant inroads across the country:
- In Arizona, a state senator drafted legislation that would ban the practice of suspending students for attendance violations. (Despite bipartisan support, the bill isn’t expected to go beyond the education committee; that said, there's always a chance for more support in future years.)
- In California, our recess withholding story was cited by a state senator proposing a law that would require daily recess for K-8 students and eliminate previous state law that allowed for it to be withheld for disciplinary reasons. Lawmakers in Washington state and Oklahoma introduced similar legislation to guarantee recess.
- In New York, legislation to cap the length of school suspensions has finally thawed after stalling for five legislative sessions in Albany. (Our story appeared on the front page of the Albany Times-Union.)
- In Texas, a UT Austin professor plans to use our discipline series in a policy course; the series has already contributed to the creation of a task force on absenteeism.
These stories have also touched lives. In Arizona, our discipline series helped one mother advocate to expunge a suspension from her son’s record. Another mother cited our reporting in fighting her daughter's suspensions.Â
Behind each consequential Hechinger story lies a significant investment in staff, open-records requests, research, travel, interviews and more. I hope you can see that our journalism moves the needle, and that you’ll pitch in this year as we hold those in power accountable.
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In gratitude,
Chelsea Miller
Development Director, The Hechinger Report
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Thank you for your support.
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