BALTIMORE (WBFF) – Eight days after the Project Baltimore investigation uncovered at least one student was getting passed on to the next grade despite passing just three classes in four years, several elected leaders have failed to respond and answer questions.
 

FOX45 News has sent emails with questions and requests for interviews to the entire Baltimore City Delegation, elected by voters to advocate on their behalf, regarding the Project Baltimore investigation. Most members refused to answer.
 

“At the end of the day, it’s the city and state leaders in Annapolis who just look the other way because it’s hard to make hard decisions,” said Sean Kennedy, with the Maryland Public Policy Institute. “It’s hard to fire people. It’s hard to hold people accountable. People are going to be angry; constituents are going to be angry.”
 

Baltimore City’s state senate delegation has been a bit more responsive and transparent about the education failures highlighted by the investigation.
 

“I think it’s important that we do an investigation from a school standpoint,” Sen. Cory McCray said; the state’s inspector general for education has an open investigation into the Baltimore City Public School System for allegations over grade changing.
 

“What we’ve seen is a lackluster, lack of planning and lack of engagement to hold high standards for all public education,” Senate President Bill Ferguson Said, a Democrat from Baltimore City.
 

Sen. Mary Washington, D-Baltimore City, appeared on FOX45 Morning News on March 9, said it will take everyone to work together to make change.
 

“There must be better focus on ensuring that students at each age level have the amount of credits they need,” Washington said.
 

While some lawmakers are facing questions instead of ignoring them, there haven’t been any plans introduced to turn some of the conversations of change into action, all while students in Baltimore City continue to struggle.
 

“There are consequences in politics and people don’t want to face those,” Kennedy said. “If you’re the state senator from Baltimore and you start passing laws that allow the firing of bad teachers, those bad teachers and their families are going to be very upset with you.”
 

Out of the $1.2 billion budget for BCPS, 70% of the money comes from state tax dollars; budgets state lawmakers vote on each year. Additionally, BCPS spends the fifth highest amount of money per student in the entire country, and lawmakers in Annapolis just voted in February to overturn a veto from Gov. Larry Hogan to double funding to schools; part of the estimated $32 billion, 10-year Blueprint for Maryland’s Future.
 

“They want to go along to get along and say let’s double the spending for Baltimore City Schools without actually resolving where that money is going and why it’s going there,” Kennedy said. “You cannot spend more money in Baltimore without assessing where it’s going and what each dollar’s return on investment is.”
 

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