Maria Benevento covers education for The Kansas City Beacon, a nonprofit newsroom focused on in-depth public service journalism. Prior to joining The Beacon, she reported on the Missouri state government as an intern for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Jefferson City bureau. While earning her master’s at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, Benevento worked on the education and state government beats, the graphics desk, and as a teaching assistant on the copy desk for the Columbia Missourian, the school’s community paper. Benevento’s investigative work for the paper focused on the struggles domestic violence victims face while trying to divorce their abusers. She spent two years as an editorial intern at the National Catholic Reporter in Kansas City before heading off to graduate school. Home for Benevento is Kirksville, Missouri.
Beat: Education reporter in Kansas City
This data and records-driven reporter provides sharp, in depth coverage of local and state education issues, including its impact on the area's skilled workforce and issues related to funding, equity and access. There are more than two dozen universities and colleges in the metro area, and dozens of K-12 school districts on both sides of the state line ripe with stories.