Baltimore school board incumbents skip FOX45 interviews in re-election race

Two Baltimore school board incumbents running for re-election are declining FOX45 interviews, even though both once campaigned as champions of transparency when they first won office in 2022. The move puts Kwame Kenyatta-Bey and Ashley Esposito back in front of voters just as Baltimore decides whether to keep the city’s first elected school board members on the panel or replace them.

The race matters because the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners now has 12 members, including nine appointed by the mayor, one student member and two elected members. Baltimore voters first gained the right to directly elect school board members in 2022, when Kenyatta-Bey and Esposito won citywide and became the board’s first elected members.

Maryland’s primary election day is June 23, 2026, and the top two vote-getters will win the two available seats. Other candidates have spoken with FOX45, but the two incumbents did not agree to interviews, leaving key questions about their records, priorities and plans unanswered as the campaign enters its final stretch.

The silence is especially notable because both incumbents previously embraced the scrutiny. In 2022, Kenyatta-Bey told FOX45’s Project Baltimore, “Transparency is the key.” Esposito said City Schools should “lean into the discomfort” of tough interviews. Those comments now sit in sharp contrast to their decision to sit out the current round of questioning.

What is at stake goes beyond campaign messaging. Baltimore City Public Schools serves about 75,811 students in 151 schools, and the district’s budget oversight now reaches nearly $2 billion. FOX45 has reported that Baltimore City Schools remains Maryland’s lowest-performing public school system, putting student outcomes, governance, absenteeism, school safety and financial oversight squarely before voters.

Esposito’s campaign website says she is seeking re-election in 2026 and describes her as a City Schools mom pushing community-driven solutions. A BmoreNews.com post also says she will not participate in FOX45 and Project Baltimore coverage during the race.

For parents and taxpayers, the unanswered questions are straightforward: what will the incumbents do about student performance, how will they guard the district’s budget, and why are they avoiding the same interviews they once treated as a test of accountability? The electorate will have to weigh that before ballots are cast.