JOSEPHINE K. LEE

Josephine Lee is a reporter and the McHam Investigative Reporting Fellow for the Texas Observer. Her reporting on education, politics, labor, and immigration, and has also appeared in The Nation, Salon, Daily Beast, Truthout, and other outlets. She previously worked as an educator and community organizer. Josephine holds a bachelor’s degree in American History from Columbia University, and a master’s degree in English and Education from Brooklyn College. She was raised in and lives in Houston.

SHORTFORM

Texas Observer

Abbott Appointee Slams Brakes on American Indian/ Native Studies Course

Those Who Don’t Know the Past…

Abbott Demands Vouchers—Or Else

Houston ISD Takeover, The Musical

Abbott Fails on Vouchers. Again.

Houstonians Force Anti-LGBTQ Democrat Into Runoff with Progressive Challenger

‘Go Away TEA,’ Say Houston ISD Parents and Teachers

Texas Workers, Congressman Launch ‘Thirst Strike’ for Heat Protections

Abbott Wants to Deny Undocumented Kids a Public Education

Other Stories for the Texas Observer

Salon

At one Texas school, LGBTQ teens call onslaught of hostile laws ‘matter of life and death’

Daily Beast

How Reagan Started a Workers’ Civil War and How Biden Can Finally End It

MEDIA APPEARANCES

El Pochcast Podcast, March 6, 2024: A Follow-Up on An 11-Year-Old Boy in Solitary

KXAN TV, February 16, 2024: Texas Observer: Judge dismisses charges against Brownsville ISD student

Houston Public Media Radio, December 11, 2023: A new investigative report from The Texas Observer examines the high human and economic cost of constructing the 288 toll road

Houston Public Media Radio, May 10, 2023: After the school shooting in Santa Fe, a state law requires schools to utilize threat assessment protocols that include mental health interventions for troubled students. But a Texas Observer investigation finds most districts aren’t complying with it

WNHNFM Radio, May 3, 2023: The defunding of public schools in Texas

WNYC Radio, The Takeaway, March 30, 2023: Behind the Texas State Takeover of Houston Independent School District

We’ve Got Issues Podcast, March 18, 2023: Violent right-wing ’groomers’ are weaponizing young Americans

WNHNFM Radio, March 9, 2023: Governor Abbott’s proposal to deny school to undocumented children and Turning Point USA’s ‘children’s crusade”