Gov. Larry Hogan on Monday announced he was sending discretionary funding to support emergency repairs to heating and cooling system in city schools as he also called for increased accountability for school leaders.

Under a legislative proposal, the Maryland State Department of Education would hire an independent investigator appointed by a commission including the governor, state Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and House Speaker Michael E. Busch. That follows not just concerns about waste in city schools, but a grade fixing scandal in Prince George's County and ethical concerns raised about the outside employment of both Baltimore County interim superintendent Verletta White and immediate predecessor Dallas Dance.

The independent investigator would root out corruption based on complaints, including anonymous tips.

"Our children desperately need someone to fight for their civil rights, and that is exactly what we intend to continue to do," Hogan said.

After the city's heating issues made national news, several city schools were closed last week, and some remained closed Monday.

Mayor Catherine Pugh, in a statement, thanked Hogan for the assistance, and said the heating issues "revealed a woeful lack of attention" by school officials to infrastructure problems.

"We can and must do better by our children while at the same time being fully transparent about how taxpayer dollars are being spent to provide our children the very best path to success," she said.

Pugh sent a letter Friday to the president of the City Council to provide an update on actions taken in the past few days. In the letter, Pugh writes about how recreation centers have been opened and have been providing food to children. Also, city engineers are working to assist the school system to expedite repairs.

Hogan said city schools get "historic and unprecedented" investment from the state, and that the district is funded at a per-pupil rate--more than $12,000---that ranks fourth-highest in the country. However, he said, more than one-tenth of that is spent on overhead.

"This is money that never makes it to our classrooms, never makes it to our kids," Hogan said. "When it comes to the problems in our local school systems, it is an accountability and management and competency issue. We simply cannot allow children to be punished year after year because their adult leaders are failing."

If anybody's short-changing students, he said, it's the city.

"The average school system in Maryland spends over 50 percent of their budget on schools. Baltimore City spends 11 percent," Hogan said. "We've got to get to the bottom of what's going on at North Avenue, what's going on in the city of Baltimore."

He said his next budget will include additional funding beyond the mandated formula for city schools and other troubled school systems. He said the emergency $2.5 million in funding for city schools shouldn't be seen as a bailout for the conduct of the officials who failed students.

"This funding is literally about saving kids from freezing in winter and from sweating and being hospitalized in the warm weather," he said.

Hogan also blasted lawmakers' veto override of the Protect Our Schools Act, saying it limited the role of academic performance in evaluating schools and ran afoul of federal law. Under his proposal, academic performance would comprise 70 percent of a school's composite score.

Sean Johnson, director of legislative affairs for the Maryland State Education Association, attempted to tie Hogan to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and cited a study commissioned by state education officials that found Maryland's schools are underfunded, despite Hogan's claims of record funding.

“This underfunding has led to larger class sizes and cuts to student programs," Johnson said. "The governor should stop attacking our public schools and start rolling up his sleeves with the rest of the state’s leaders to reverse this shameful underfunding and make sure the Kirwan Commission’s recommendations [on funding and accountability] become law.”

WBAL-TV 11 contributed to this report.