Concerns Over Education Spending in Urban Schools
For more than four decades, Americans have invested significantly in education systems within metropolitan areas. However, the outcomes have been quite troubling. Many young individuals emerge from these schools unprepared, lacking the necessary skills and knowledge to secure good jobs and contribute positively to society.
It seems taxpayers are suffering from educational mismanagement, while students are left disadvantaged due to ineffective instruction.
This concerning situation is explored in a new book by FOX45 Baltimore Reporter Chris Papst, titled Failure Factory. The book draws from an extensive eight-year survey of Baltimore schools, revealing insights about the state of education in the area.
Papst’s work might be likened to Lincoln Steffens’s “City Shame,” which called for urban reform over a century ago. After engaging with Papst’s findings, it feels like a shift in perception may occur regarding the actions of school bureaucrats in large cities.
Through his investigative work with the Fox 45 Project Baltimore, Papst highlights issues of corruption and misconduct within school administrations and teachers’ unions. He argues that these entities prioritize their financial interests over genuine educational progress, making it evident that education isn’t a top concern for Baltimore’s bureaucratic leaders.
Having a background in teaching at both high school and university levels, I have a long history of involvement in educational reform. I once presented President Ronald Reagan’s 1983 report, “A Nation at Risk,” which emphasized the dangers posed by our failing education system. Sadly, the situation has been deteriorating ever since. In the early 1990s, I collaborated with state leaders to implement school choice programs that have been slowly adopted across the country. Still, many public school students in urban areas find themselves struggling while their peers thrive in charter and parochial schools.
Over the years, I have invested a lot into urban education, trying to grasp the reasons behind such disheartening results. It’s perplexing that the educational unions tolerate such grim outcomes, especially when they affect countless children, particularly from low-income and minority backgrounds. Then I read “Failure Factory,” and it laid bare the corruption. Papst has done the public a service by exposing these failures.
In 2024, Baltimore City schools allocated $1.7 billion for education, up from $1.3 billion in 2017. However, only 10% of students demonstrated proficiency in math that year, compared to 11% in 2017. Furthermore, student enrollment has dropped from 82,354 in 2017 to 75,811 in 2024, costing taxpayers an alarming $400 million annually to educate just 6,543 students.
Local reformers seem resistant to genuine change, likely due to the unions benefiting from the current system. A reported 730 administrative staff members and about 4,930 teachers create a formidable group focused on protecting their interests rather than boosting educational outcomes.
According to Papst, many students are absent from classes altogether. In 2019, Maryland reported over 6,126 “ghost students”—those registered but not attending school. Taxpayers ended up funding $15,000 for each ghost student that year while the district profited from $92.9 million for students who weren’t even present.
This situation resembles fraud evident in other public services. Yet in urban education, we seem to accept this cycle of incompetence and failure.
Papst has demonstrated that Baltimore’s educational bureaucracy prioritizes finances above all else. The CEO of Baltimore City Schools earns nearly $500,000 annually while presiding over a faltering system.
His extensive research offers valuable lessons that could be applied to urban school systems nationwide. Unfortunately, numerous similar cases exist across the country. We owe it to the children, the taxpayers, and our broader community to identify, expose, and rectify these issues.
