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'Clearly a cover-up': Baltimore parents fight back against city schools after rapid academic decline
BALTIMORE – A father of two young children hopes a lawsuit will lead to more transparency and improve student outcomes in Baltimore's embattled public school system.
"I'm all for funding schools," Jovani Patterson, told Fox News. "However, you don't just keep giving money without investigation on where the money has gone, especially with the amount of corruption and misuse of funds that have taken place for years in Baltimore City."
Patterson and his wife allege the school system misused taxpayer funds, reported ghost students — children not actually enrolled — in order to gain more funding, falsified pupils' records to push failing students through to graduation and more. Their suit names Baltimore City School Board of Commissioners, city council and Mayor Brandon Scott as defendants.
"It's all about power and control," Patterson said of the school system. "There's a lot of money in education."
That's $1.62 billion a year in Baltimore City Public Schools, to be exact. Baltimore has the fourth-highest funded large school system in the nation, behind only New York, Boston and Washington, D.C. Charm City's school budget increased 16% this school year, according to the city.
All that money — approximately $21,600 per student — isn't adding up to better outcomes. Baltimore had the lowest graduation rate across Maryland during the last school year. At one high school, 77% of students read at an elementary or kindergarten level.............
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/cl...ight-back-city-schools-rapid-academic-decline
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This is EXACTLY why we need school choice. Taxpayer money should follow the student. All school performance data should be published on the internet every 6 months. That includes the data for private schools. Surely we can educate our kids for $21,600 a year.
BALTIMORE – A father of two young children hopes a lawsuit will lead to more transparency and improve student outcomes in Baltimore's embattled public school system.
"I'm all for funding schools," Jovani Patterson, told Fox News. "However, you don't just keep giving money without investigation on where the money has gone, especially with the amount of corruption and misuse of funds that have taken place for years in Baltimore City."
Patterson and his wife allege the school system misused taxpayer funds, reported ghost students — children not actually enrolled — in order to gain more funding, falsified pupils' records to push failing students through to graduation and more. Their suit names Baltimore City School Board of Commissioners, city council and Mayor Brandon Scott as defendants.
"It's all about power and control," Patterson said of the school system. "There's a lot of money in education."
That's $1.62 billion a year in Baltimore City Public Schools, to be exact. Baltimore has the fourth-highest funded large school system in the nation, behind only New York, Boston and Washington, D.C. Charm City's school budget increased 16% this school year, according to the city.
All that money — approximately $21,600 per student — isn't adding up to better outcomes. Baltimore had the lowest graduation rate across Maryland during the last school year. At one high school, 77% of students read at an elementary or kindergarten level.............
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/cl...ight-back-city-schools-rapid-academic-decline
==============================
This is EXACTLY why we need school choice. Taxpayer money should follow the student. All school performance data should be published on the internet every 6 months. That includes the data for private schools. Surely we can educate our kids for $21,600 a year.
