Idaho Statesman adds community-funded reporter to cover education. Here’s how to help
The Idaho Statesman has hired its first education reporter in nearly four years as part of a growing national trend of philanthropy-funded journalism.
Becca Savransky will join us June 1 with an emphasis on covering education from an accountability perspective. Her focus will be on K-12 education in the Treasure Valley and higher education across the state. She’ll explore topics including how school districts will combat the learning disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, what Idaho can do to improve its ranking among states in education and the growing conflict between the Legislature and the education system.
Education coverage has always been a challenge for the Statesman: Readers tell us they want it, but digital readership statistics show that the stories can struggle to find an audience. Now we can take all that we’ve learned through our digital transformation that began in earnest in 2017 and apply it to this beat, giving us confidence that we can produce important, impactful and engaging coverage.
Becca will be our first education reporter since the great Bill Roberts retired in 2017 — and she represents two other significant milestones for the Statesman’s (virtual, for now) newsroom.
One, this is a new position for our newsroom, adding a journalist — rather than just refilling a position — for the first time in years.
Two, this will be our first donor-funded, full-time position.
Becca was hired in partnership with Report For America, which is placing about 300 journalists in more than 200 newsrooms this year and simultaneously working with those newsrooms to develop their philanthropy efforts. Report for America pays a portion of the reporters’ salaries; local newsrooms cover the rest.
For this position, the Statesman raised nearly half of our share through a fundraising campaign last fall. That leaves us needing to generate the other half this spring to cover the first year of the program. We launched our spring fundraiser Monday at IdahoStatesman.com/donate. Donations are tax-deductible through Journalism Funding Partners.
Once we pay for the first year, we’ll move immediately toward raising funds for the second year, which comes at a higher cost. The RFA program is designed with the idea that the reporter will stay for at least two years. There’s a third-year option — and the hope is that the position receives so much community support that it becomes a permanent part of our newsroom.
“We know that the biggest global challenges of our time — like equitable health care, the impact of climate change and affordable housing — will require trusted, local public-service journalism if we are to come together to solve them,” Charles Sennott, Report for America co-founder, said in a press release.
Becca was among 1,800 applicants for 100 new spots as RFA corps members in 2021. She was one of five impressive finalists vetted by Report for America for the Statesman, and she was hired from that pool after an extensive interview process that involved several Statesman journalists.
She graduated from Northwestern University in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and served as managing editor of The Daily Northwestern. Originally from Connecticut, her journalism career has included stops at The Frederick News-Post in Maryland, The Hill in Washington, D.C., and most recently Seattle P-I. Her coverage areas have included homelessness, poverty, affordability, mental health and politics.
“My passion is to share people’s stories in an effort to tackle greater problems and reach communities that feel ignored,” she said.
Becca joins the Idaho Statesman as part of an overall reload of our newsroom staff. She is one of five new hires we’ve finalized in the past two months — with three more in the works. We have announced the hires of breaking news reporter Ian Stevenson, visual journalist Sarah Miller and Meridian/Eagle/Canyon County reporter Rachel Spacek. We also have a growth-and-development reporter hired, and we’re in the interview process for an assistant editor to run our accountability team, an investigative reporter and a Boise city government reporter.
When we’re done, we’ll have 15 reporters and 23 total journalists in our newsroom — numbers we haven’t seen since 2018.
Most of those hires are filling holes created by attrition. But Becca represents something exciting and new: growth.
And it’s only possible because of the community support we enjoy.
Chadd Cripe was named editor of the Idaho Statesman in March. He has spent nearly 25 years on staff, most recently as assistant editor.
This story was originally published April 27, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
