From [HERE] and [[HERE] *The high graduation rate of Black students in Prince George’s County, Maryland has Republicans calling for an investigation into grade inflation, medium.com reports.

The county is home to 7 out of the 10 richest African American communities in the United States.

Prince George’s County, MD is one of top 7 out of the 10 richest African American communities in the United States. More African American wealth is gathered in the county than anywhere else in the US. 

So it came as a shock when Maryland’s Governor, Larry Hogan, requested an investigation into data showing increased graduation rates in the county. The governor claims that grades and credit counts are being altered to increase the rate.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has asked the Maryland State Board of Education to investigate the allegations that Prince George’s County educators have been altering grades and credit counts to boost the high school graduation rate.

The allegations claim that the 81 percent graduation rate is due to the manipulation of student records.

 In a June 25 letter to the four Prince George’s County Board of Education members who brought the alleged corruption to light, Hogan states that whistleblowers within the school system will be afforded full protection under the law.

In a June 25 letter to the four Prince George’s County Board of Education members who brought the alleged corruption to light, Hogan states that whistleblowers within the school system will be afforded full protection under the law.

In his request to the Maryland State Board of Education, Hogan points to two more instances in which local officials have also echoed these allegations.

Prince George’s County high school principals sent out a statement in response to the allegations, stating that elected officials and “aspiring politicos” want control over the school system, which is the largest recipient of county funds, “by any means necessary.”

“A high school diploma should never be used as a political pawn to twist the perception of the entire school system,” said the June 21 statement.

Medium.com asks; Is it possible? Certainly. If the allegations are true it would not be anything new. Schools have been accused of this for a long time, especially when it comes to student athletes. With school funding being tied to increased academic performance cheating has been discovered from West Virginia in the 1980s to Atlanta in 2011.

But why is Prince George’s County specifically being targeted out of all the counties in Maryland? One unsettling coincidence is the county executive announcing his run for governor against Hogan less than a week before this investigation was called for. Under Rushern Baker’s administration:

Crime has fallen dramatically. Homicides dropped 40 percent in four years, and violent crime fell 36 percent. The county has regained the population it lost during the housing crisis, and in the past few years, Prince George’s has drawn more new residents than all but one other jurisdiction in the fast-growing Washington, D.C., area.

With those types of improvements is it really a surprise that graduation rates have increased? Even the unemployment rate is down significantly. 2012 also marked the lowest rate of rape ever reported.

According to Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education:

“Compared to high school dropouts, high school graduates are less likely to be unemployed, less likely to tangle with the criminal justice system…”

If graduation rates in Prince George’s County were rising, but other indicators were worsening, an investigation would certainly be worthy. But the effects of increased graduation rates are clearly apparent in Prince George’s County.