Idaho reporter Ben Botkin discovers business at the bottom of education beat

Ben Botkin of the Times-News in Idaho suspected something bigger was going on in the school district when the paper found out a local teacher had been hired despite his criminal record. What Botkin found was the state education system was failing to properly background check all their teachers. The background checks had plenty of holes and didn’t paint a complete picture of the applicants past.

Reporter, Ben Botkin

On the government and education beat, Botkin’s article is a good example of how no matter what beat you cover business will somehow always play a role. He says he tries to incorporate investigative work into stories constantly because as a reporter he feels he needs to keep the leaders in his community accountable. He adds that knowing about business definitely helps because he will often find himself having to investigate a business or take an angle that requires business knowledge.

Botkin took the time to answer our questions about his article, ‘The spotty past of state education background checks’, covering education, and how business plays a role in it all.

1) How did you get turned onto this story? What made you suspicious?

When a teacher from one of our area school districts was arrested for a sex crime, court records showed that the teacher had a prior record of misdemeanor petty theft convictions that happened before the teacher was hired. That left us wondering how rigorous the state’s background check process is for teachers.

photo courtesy of U.S. Army photo by Dan Thompson

2) What was your process of uncovering the information? (public records, databases, etc.?)

First, interviews with local school officials prompted us to widen the story to include the state’s education department, which oversees the background check process for school districts. When a state education official mentioned that a recent state audit prevented them from providing more information, that prompted me to submit a public records request to get more details.

I also read through a year or so of meeting minutes of the state’s commission that oversees teacher discipline case. One meeting briefly mentioned a separate FBI audit that took place. That led to me to further documentation that showed the state’s process was flawed because they had no system to verify that applicants being fingerprinted for their background checks at local police stations were asked for identification.

In this case, it was a combination of interviews on all levels of the system and looking in obscure places for documentation like audits and meeting minutes that can easily be overlooked.

3) I see you’re the government/education reporter, but do you often find yourself doing business or investigative pieces as well? And what do you have to do differently/know when doing these investigative pieces?

My beat encompasses education and state government and politics, but I try to bring an investigative approach to my work that holds the institutions I cover accountable on a regular basis. My work sometimes has a business-related angle when I cover contractors and vendors that get government contracts, particularly if it’s under questional circumstances or for costly projects that go over budget.

4) For reporters who may want to start digging into their local education system, what are your tips?

Don’t overlook agencies that overlap with your local school system, such as your state department of education or even federal agencies like the FBI. All of them have a paper trail and when multiple agencies get involved in any process, that means you have multiple agencies that are potential sources – both for interviews and following the paper trail.

Remember that while what goes on in the classroom is a crucial part of any education beat, there’s much, much more to scrutinize. Like any other government agency, school districts have bidding for construction projects, budgets, purchases and obscure practices that usually don’t get a hard look – including background check processes.

Remember to compare practices among different school districts or even among the education systems of different states. This adds context and can show areas where the education system you cover falls short.

5) Any extra tips for investigative/business reporters?

Don’t be afraid to ask the tough questions that lead to further, more detailed answers. In this case, I was told about the audit when asking the state why they cannot provide misdemeanor conviction information about applicants that is already a public record and easily accessible on a public online courts website.

Use Freedom of Information requests to get more details about claims made in interviews — and stress to the agencies you cover that it’s crucial to get requested documents quickly so that the public has a full picture. Be sure to remind agencies about your request when they’re slow in responding.

When covering businesses and doing investigative work, remember to look for the intersection of where business and government meet. That can lead to public records about a business and its practices that are usually unavailable and provide opportunities to scrutinize industry and government practices.

Places to look: Bidding documents, federal and state grants that go to businesses, expenditure data, contracts and campaign contributions/lobbyist records.

You can follow Ben Botkin on Twitter: @Capitol_insider