Commissioner of Education Mike Morath has repeatedly waived expansion requirements for charter school networks, allowing them to serve thousands more students, even when they don’t meet academic performance standards.
Dan Keemahill
Dan Keemahill gathers and analyzes data on health outcomes and access in Texas. A native of Sacramento, Dan is a graduate of Northwestern University and started his journalism career as a contributor to the Tribune's schools and government salaries explorers. He previously covered public education for the ProPublica-Texas Tribune investigative unit and worked with datasets related to immigrant detention centers, elections and the COVID-19 pandemic at USA Today.
Posted inState Government
News App: Government Salaries Explorer
Our new Government Salaries Explorer reimagines our flagship salary database app. Use the explorer to review the compensation of hundreds of thousands of state and municipal employees in Texas. We will update and expand this database periodically.
Posted inState Government
Runoff Maps Show Extent of Low Voter Turnout
Dan Patrick won the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor with 65 percent of the votes in Tuesday’s runoff election, but he earned votes from only 3.5 percent of registered Texas voters.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
In Cellphone Contraband Cases, Few Face Charges
While confiscations of illicit cellphones in prisons have dropped, a Tribune investigation found that few inmates or correctional officers face legal consequences for smuggling the devices.
Posted inEconomy
Interactive: Gender Wage Gaps in State Agencies
At dozens of Texas state agencies, male workers are better compensated than female workers, on average. Use our interactive to compare compensation by gender at state agencies with at least 100 employees, excluding universities.
Posted inPolitics
Interactive: Where the Candidates Won Votes
We pulled the county-by-county vote totals for each statewide candidate headed to a runoff in their primary and analyzed what parts of the state got them there. Use our interactive to compare each candidate’s performance.
Posted inPolitics
Interactive: Where Texas Primary Election Candidates Bought Ads
As statewide candidates recover from primary elections and, in some cases, prepare for runoffs, use our interactive to see which campaigns purchased network airtime in Texas’ four biggest media markets.
Posted inCourts, Criminal Justice, Immigration
2013 County Jail Costs for Detained Immigrants Fell
The cost of housing undocumented immigrants in Texas county jails fell about 8 percent in 2013 from the previous year. Use this interactive to explore trends in detentions of undocumented immigrants in county jails.
Posted inCourts, Criminal Justice, Immigration
Interactive: County Jail Spending on Detained Immigrants
A state law passed in 2011 requires Texas jails to report monthly estimates of the cost of housing undocumented immigrants. Use this interactive to see how many immigrants jails across Texas housed and how much the jails spent.
Posted inPolitics
Interactive: Where Texas Candidates Are Buying Network Airtime
With less than a week before the start of early voting in the March 4 primaries, use our interactive to see how statewide candidates are spending campaign funds to purchase network airtime in Texas’ four biggest media markets.
