(More) money won't fix this

Meet the Baltimore school where an 0.13 GPA places a student in the upper half of his class

Calls to shut down a Baltimore high school are growing Thursday following an investigation that found hundreds of students are failing, with the top grade point averages hovering at an abysmal 0.13. 

Augusta Fells Savage Institute of Visual Arts in West Baltimore is being accused of repeatedly promoting students from grade to grade despite failing GPAs. 

Tiffany France, one of the mothers profiled in the Project Baltimore investigation, said she thought 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 the 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. What's worse is that her son's GPA puts him near the top half of this class. He was also late or absent to school 359 days.

There’s certainly room to assign some blame to the parents here: if you know your child isn’t going to school, why don’t you make him go to school?, but the school’s indifference to the massive failure of its mission is appalling.

No one seems to want to take accountability or go on the record as to why so many students have fallen through the cracks. 

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott received backlash Wednesday when he implied during a press conference that education lapses in city schools were tied to a lack of funding.

"We have a school district that's been underfunded by $300 million a year by our state," he said.

The comment brought a swift rebuke from Maryland's Public Policy Institute Director Christopher Summers, who said the city doesn't have an underfunding problem but instead an overspending problem.

"Baltimore City alone is spending 25.2% above the national average," he said.

Here’s the school’s State Report Card, showing mathematics and reading proficiency rates of 5.9% and 5.6%, respectively. These are actually pretty much in line with all inner-city public schools.. Support your local NEA!