The Alabama School Connection Is Closing Down….

Sunset, Star Lake, Hoover.

No easy way to say this, friends. The Alabama School Connection is closing down.

We knew it was an ambitious undertaking when we formally incorporated in June 2014. Nonprofit news organizations are struggling to find a sustainable revenue model, and we certainly found that to be the case. Though we’d hoped to be the exception, we succumbed to the reality of a lack of financial support for our work.

As Executive Director and head writer, I found I lacked both the time and the skill set necessary to raise the $100,000 that we needed to sustain and grow the ASC into the organization it needed to become in order to provide the depth of coverage K-12 education deserves in Alabama.

There are many stories left untold, stories we’ve been working on, and we’ll do our best to get those stories told before we close the site down completely some time before October 1 (earlier if I start a new job before then). For now, I will continue to write for news organizations, including BirminghamWatch and al.com, on a freelance basis.

To those who have supported us financially, thank you so much. We hope we haven’t let you down.

To the 120,000 of you who read our work in 2015, thank you. Half a million reads is something we are proud of.

Our web metrics showed incredible growth in interest (we were on track for an even bigger readership in 2016), but financial support just didn’t reach the same level.

It is deeply satisfying to know our work had an impact and helped propel K-12 education into Alabama’s everyday conversations.

We are proud of the work we have produced here and look forward to seeing new journalists adding to the dedicated workforce currently covering education in Alabama.

We hope we have created a burning desire in our readers to ask for more information about how we educate our children. And further, that we’ve created an expectation that answers will be provided.

The children of Alabama need all of us to keep asking tough questions and keep expecting great things of our education system in Alabama.

See you soon.