Jon East is a lifelong journalist who spent nearly three decades at the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, more than two of which were engaged in writing about education policy for the editorial board. He believes that public education is, as John Dewey used to put it, the “crucible of democracy.” He is currently the director of policy and public affairs for Step Up For Students, a nonprofit scholarship organization that oversees the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship for low-income children. He hails from tobacco country in Winston-Salem, N.C., and has a journalism degree from the Tar Heels at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.