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Baltimore school board’s $21M mental-health contract included firm linked to sitting member
Two elected board members voted to approve a three-year student mental-health services contract that included KEYS Development, a company linked to then-board member Mujahid Muhammad. Baltimore City Schools later canceled KEYS’ contract after paying the firm $80,000, while the two members have not answered questions about what they knew before the vote.
Baltimore’s school board approved an estimated $21 million, three-year contract for student mental-health services in June 2025, selecting 11 vendors, including KEYS Development, a company linked to then-board member Mujahid Muhammad.
Kwame Kenyatta-Bey and Ashley Esposito, the board’s two elected members, voted in favor of the 8-0 decision on June 10, 2025. State business records list Muhammad as KEYS Development’s resident agent. A former board member called the arrangement a significant conflict of interest, while school system policy bars board members from using their position or school system resources for personal benefit.
Baltimore City Schools said it canceled Muhammad’s contract after paying KEYS $80,000 during the first year. The overall $21 million figure covered the three-year contract and all 11 selected vendors; it was not the amount paid to KEYS.
Muhammad resigned from the board in September 2026, following an FBI raid at KEYS’ headquarters on Liberty Road, according to the reporting. The raid alone does not establish wrongdoing.
Kenyatta-Bey and Esposito are seeking reelection in November 2026. Asked whether they knew of Muhammad’s connection to KEYS when they voted, neither responded. The school system also did not directly answer whether the board members knew of his involvement.
Anirban Basu, who served on the board from 2005 to 2011, said it was “very bad practice” for a school system to do business with one of its own board members. The board’s policy prohibits members from using their positions or school resources for personal benefit, though the available information does not establish that either elected member violated the policy.
During their 2022 campaigns, both Kenyatta-Bey and Esposito publicly endorsed greater transparency in City Schools. Their unanswered questions about the vote now put that commitment under scrutiny as the election approaches.