Denise Zapata

Denise Zapata is a Deputy Editor at CalMatters, leading our coverage of K-12 schools and higher education. She is a veteran journalist who has spent most of her career covering California’s education issues, first as a reporter and then as an editor for several teams that included at least one education reporter. She brings her expertise to a range of education topics, ranging from school finance to curriculum to the cost of college. Before joining CalMatters, she was senior editor at EdSource. In that role she led an editorial team that won or was named a finalist for several awards from the Education Writers Association. Prior to that, as associate editor for The Center for Investigative Reporting, Denise was part of one team that won a George Polk Award and another that was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. She began her journalism career at The Bakersfield Californian, where she reported on several topics, including higher education. She later became an assistant city editor, then city editor at the paper. After that she became an assistant metro editor at the San Diego Union-Tribune, overseeing regional teams in north, east and south San Diego County. Denise is a Bay Area native and a graduate of Santa Clara University.