"Failure Factory" Author Chris Papst Discusses Baltimore City Public Schools on the Sunbury Press Books Show Artwork

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"Failure Factory" Author Chris Papst Discusses Baltimore City Public Schools on the Sunbury Press Books Show

October 24, 2025

The product of an eight-year-long investigation, Failure Factory: How Baltimore City Public Schools Deprive Taxpayers and Students of a Future examines how one of the most highly-funded school systems in the US has failed not only its students, but taxpayers as well.

In 2024, despite a budget of $1.7 billion, only 10 percent of Baltimore City students tested as proficient in mathematics.

Through interviews with teachers, parents, and a deep examination of documents, Chris Papst and his team uncovered systemic failures. In this discussion, Papst uncovers an emphasis on securing taxpayer dollars and hiring administrators and educators, while spending almost nothing to educate the children whose futures they are charged with. The book uncovers practices that include data manipulation, grade-changing, and even the enrollment of "ghost" students in order to fill out the rolls.

These issues are not only confined to Baltimore, but to many districts across the country. Papst notes that a national discussion on public education, how it is funded and dispensed, is required.

Chris Papst is an Emmy Award-winning investigative reporter and the 2023 recipient of the Maryland State Conference NAACP Vanguard Award. His works include Failure Factory, on the Radio Free Press imprint, and Capital Murder: An Investigative Reporter's Hunt for Answers in a Collapsing City, which examines the life and history of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.