Where Are the Muckrakers?

In the mythology of journalism, investigative reporters fall somewhere between archangels and demigods. They protect the public by exposing political deceit and corruption, burrowing relentlessly into the words and deeds of those in power, in search of the truth. And in the field of education, they are as numerous as leprechauns and unicorns.


In education, “muckrakers,” as Teddy Roosevelt called them, are few and far between. There are, however, legions of mucksailors — reporters who glide over the surface of a story, seldom probing beneath the public statements of those in power to determine their truth or falsehood. Through my web browser window I can watch the sails of a vast muck navy.


Consider the coverage of the battle over DC’s school voucher program. Democrats inserted language into the $410 billion omnibus spending bill that would sunset funding for the program after next year, instead of simply reauthorizing it for another full five‐​year term. The vouchers could still be reauthorized when they come up again, but since House Appropriations Committee chairman David Obey ( D‑Wis.) has already told DC public schools to prepare for the return of voucher students, that seems highly unlikely.


So here we have Democrats working to shut down a program serving 1,700 poor kids in the nation’s capital — kids who are so desperate to stay in their chosen private schools that they’ve made YouTube videos beseeching Congress and president Obama to save it. Given that most people are not inherently so cruel, why would Democrats want to kill this program? They say it’s because it robs money from needy public schools and gives it to private schools that are already flush from lavish tuition fees. But. Is. That. TRUE?


Is DC’s government‐​run k‑12 system financially needy? Are the independent schools serving voucher students making a Madoff‐​style killing?


No. And… No.


These claims are rubbish. They are, in fact, MUCK. I have run the numbers on DC government k‑12 education spending for the current school year and it is $26,555 per pupil. According to the government’s own published study of the voucher program, the average tuition charged by participating schools is $5,928. Furthermore, the voucher program actually added an extra $13 million a year to the DC public school budget, as a “sweetener” to elicit local and Democratic support.


But most Americans will never learn any of that. Because we have no muckrakers in the mainstream education media. We have mucksailors.


This is not entirely the journalists’ fault. Media businesses have been hit very hard in recent years, and are understaffed compared to earlier generations. Reporters are stretched very thin. But I ask the editorial establishment, what is more valuable to your readers: A dozen stories that merely regurgitate the official muck, or a single top notch investigative piece that demonstrates how our political leaders are flagrantly misleading the American people and exposes their real motives?


Speak truth to power? Anyone?


Anyone?