Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan demanded a full investigation into a Baltimore high school where hundreds of students were promoted despite repeatedly failing their classes.
The Republican governor also called on school leaders at the Augusta Fells Savage Institute of Visual Arts to publicly address what happened and why so many students fell through the cracks.
“This is completely unacceptable,” Hogan said Thursday. “It’s worse than anything I’ve heard in the whole time that I’ve been governor. The fact that this particular school in the Baltimore City School system is failing that many kids is just outrageous.”
Anger has flared following a Project Baltimore investigation that found that hundreds of students were failing basic classes such as English and math, with the top grade point averages hovering at 0.13.
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Tiffany France, one of the mothers profiled in the investigation, said she thought that her 17-year-old son would be receiving his diploma in June but learned that after four years of attending Augusta Fells, her son is being moved back to ninth grade.
According to transcripts, France’s son passed only three classes in his four years of high school, earning a 0.13 grade point average. Perhaps more shocking is that the low GPA put France’s son near the top half of this class. He was also late or absent from school for 359 days.
“I feel bad for this mom and this young man and the rest of the kids who haven’t had the opportunity to get a quality education,” Hogan said. “This is something I’m going to ask the inspector general to immediately look into. They have to get to the bottom of this and find out who’s responsible.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott’s office multiple times for comment but did not receive a reply.
Following public pressure, Scott told WBAL Radio that the problem was linked to underfunded schools in the city.
“We know that we can no longer continue to educate our children the way that we have been,” Scott said. “I know, you know, and it’s not just about this, but we know that our system has been underfunded by 300 million by the state.”
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Scott has routinely blamed funding for failing Baltimore city schools. However, according to the latest U.S. Census data, Baltimore City is fifth in per-student spending among America’s 100 largest school systems. In fact, Baltimore spends more on education than Chicago, Milwaukee, and Detroit. The city spends $6,000 more per student than Houston, which has a similar demographic. Houston also outscores Baltimore on English and math proficiencies, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
Instead of throwing more money at the problem, Hogan believes schools should be directly held responsible and face the consequences for cheating students out of an education.
“If they are persistently failing schools, we have to shut the schools down,” he said. “Or get rid of the principals and the teachers and start over with a new program. We’re failing the kids. That is what this is really all about. It’s these kids that are suffering.”
