Jonaki Mehta
Jonaki Mehta is an LA-based NPR correspondent covering education with a focus on students with learning differences. Mehta has covered discrimination against students with disabilities, the benefits of integrating disabled students into general education classrooms, and the integral role federal dollars play in rural school communities.
Before joining NPR's Education Desk, Mehta was a producer for All Things Considered. She has covered breaking news stories around the country about reproductive rights, hurricanes, deadly wildfires, and mass protests. She was part of the award-winning team that told stories from Taiwan, exploring issues of identity as the island faced a consequential election. She also produced stories in Ukraine in the days leading up to Russia's invasion. As the show's west-coast producer, she covered nature, culture, and music across California — including as a founding member of the show's "First-time Grammy nominees" series.
Mehta attended undergrad at UCLA where she found her love for radio stories, hosting a news and culture talk-show. She has worked for Marketplace, LAist, and a number of publications as a freelance producer and reporter. She was once a kindergarten teacher in Oakland, California, which instilled in her the utmost respect for educators.
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The federal Civil Rights Data Collection, for the first time in decades, tells us about the teacher workforce and reminds us racial disparities are still stark in American public schools. -
Disability rights advocates are angered by the latest reversal but are rallying behind proposed legislation and working with states to strengthen protections for community integration. -
Education staff are being scattered across several other federal agencies. Despite the Trump administration's claims, employees say it's adding bureaucracy and making it harder to serve students. -
The leader of the Education Department's special education office told employees she is resigning after less than four months in the role and as the agency overall is morphing and shrinking. -
Fifth graders calm school kindergartners in Los Angeles. Kids take the "bike bus" in Oklahoma. High school students take in a new high school building in Oregon. -
The Education Department gathers a massive tranche of civil rights data about public school students. It's now available but harder to parse than in the past. -
Siblings Cody and Kaleigh Brendle have grown up with the right to community integration. Now, they worry those protections for people with disabilities like them are being eroded. -
A federal judge in Boston has dismissed a Trump administration lawsuit that claimed Harvard University did not do enough to protect students on campus from antisemitism.
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The disability community has long worried about what would happen if special education oversight moved from the Education Department to another agency. Now, those moves are becoming more real. -
The Education Department has long collected civil rights data about things like bullying, harassment and disability services in schools, but it hasn't made the latest information public.
