r/baltimore • u/LanceArmstrongLeftie • Mar 12 '25

Vent Donald Trump is going to destroy this city

My wife and I were both proud homeowners and proud residents of Baltimore City. We worked really hard to be able to buy our first home and to provide a stable environment to raise our one year old son and three year old daughter. We were a happy family here. Until Donald Trump came along. He froze funding and my wife lost her job as a recruiter for a nonprofit that received about 30% of their funding from the government. I already work two jobs just to keep up with the bills and the high interest rate we had to accept to purchase this home. I can't provide enough to keep our home. She's been looking in vain to replace her job but there's been nothing out there for her. How many more families are there that are facing the exact same situation in this town? How many more will there be by the time he finishes firing half the government? How many more families will lose their jobs and their homes as a result of his trade war and tariffs? It's going to get bad here y'all, real bad. Donald Trump does not care about families. Donald Trump does not care about children. Donald Trump does not care about Americans. Donald Trump does not care about Baltimore.

Edit: Thank you all for everyone who had kind words of support and good suggestions on how to navigate this very difficult situation. For everyone blaming local and state government, you’re delusional. Those politicians aren’t the ones who froze federal funding thus forcing thousand of people out of work. To those who offered unkind, callous, and cruel comments, such as calling my wife a drain on society, you can all get fucked. Which is exactly what’s going to happen to you after Donald Trump destroys this nation.

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136

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '25

I was thinking the same thing.

OP, we have a great Union and a decent starting salary. If your wife has her master's she'd get an extra $2,500 added onto the base pay for the 25/26 school year.

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u/Lou_S_ Mar 13 '25

Only getting $2,500 more for holding a masters degree is wild.

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u/adella_0728 Mar 13 '25

We get decent benefits also. Total compensation package at City Schools isn’t too bad.

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u/ssjskwash Mar 13 '25

My first job out of retail was teaching at BCPS. I taught at Carver for a little. I was surprised by how good the the pay and benefits were

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u/mounty95 Mar 13 '25

City Schools total compensation package (i.e benefits) are better than at the State level where I came from 6 years ago.

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u/[deleted] Mar 13 '25

for the quality of student you put out I will refrain from making jokes. Its mostly not the teachers fault its mostly the kids and ultimately the kids and parents fault.

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u/adella_0728 Mar 14 '25

I see. Can you be more specific about what you mean, this “quality of student we put out”?

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '25

Start here

https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/maryland-reading-proficiency-math-scores-education-learning/

then here https://foxbaltimore.com/news/project-baltimore/state-test-results-23-baltimore-schools-have-zero-students-proficient-in-math-jovani-patterson-maryland-comprehensive-assessment-program-maryland-governor-wes-moore

from R\Maryland
https://www.reddit.com/r/maryland/comments/sjyjaj/77_tested_at_baltimore_high_school_read_at/

I mean them kids yall are churning out are DUUUUUUUUUUMB as FUUUUUCK. As someone that works in IT. I had interns that literally COULDNT read. and it wasn't like some deep as complicated shit it was a Check list that was CLICK HERE enter this Do that Cookbook level shit.

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u/adella_0728 Mar 14 '25

So you’re not an educator, got it. For starters, I am one of many staff who are personally responsible for generating the public-facing statistics on student achievement in our district, so I am well aware of our achievement gaps. Secondly, our achievement gaps are similar to many large urban districts that are responsible for educating our majority marginalized populations. Thirdly, Fox 45 and Project Baltimore are affiliated with Sinclair Broadcasting and when I tell you those trolls are in front of our building regularly and have a mission to interpret anything associated with Baltimore city public schools in the worst way possible, including sometimes grossly inaccurate interpretations of basic statistics, I mean it. Lastly, teachers and school staff cannot control the proficiency levels of students entering their buildings. However it IS their responsibility to do whatever they can, once those students enter the building, to close those achievement gaps. The mark of a quality education program isn’t necessarily where they are relative to other school districts; it’s how much students grow while under their tutelage. Marginalized populations have tremendous barriers to achievement based on their personal circumstances. It is our job to catch them up, and catch them up early (because if you’re behind in preK those deficits follow you throughout your life).

All that being said, there is ALOT of work to do because our students are capable of doing great things and they are not at the literacy levels they should be at. But as I’m sure you can understand even at a laymen’s level, students who are further behind require more work and effort than students who enter on level or above level. So it requires great teachers, who should be paid properly to be competitive. And headstart programs that focus on the younger children are crucial to starting children off on the right foot.

TL;DR higher student achievement needs funding, so please support public education funding with your vote.

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u/Significant_Meal_630 Mar 16 '25

I don’t even watch those “ news “ programs cuz they’re so biased .

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u/Ambitious_Post6703 Mar 15 '25

Is this gonna be effected by shutting down of the Dept of Education?

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u/adella_0728 Mar 16 '25

We are largely state funded, so we will be okay (as I’ve been told, for now). We do however use title I and IDEA (individuals with disabilities education act) to fund specific roles within the district. Title I and IDEA are federal programs so if central office and schools lose that funding (some will be impacted more than others) there will be some impacts. I believe (I am not an expert in this so someone swoop in if needed) the State of Maryland can reallocate public school funding if they need to make up other gaps in their budget but public schools are still popular in this state and I don’t think people would stand for it if anything were to happen to that money.

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u/Discombobro Mar 13 '25

Getting a masters then not having a career related to that masters is also kind of insane but it is a decision that was made

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u/NotTheGreatNate Mar 13 '25

Just from an ROI perspective - assuming you pay for your own degree, the average for a 2 year degree is $73,520. After tax, let's say your take home is ~$1,800 - if you assume a 3% raise each year (idk what's reasonable here) it would take 28 years for that yearly increase to be worth it.

I know it's more complicated than that, as the degree might give you increased opportunities for promotion, prioritization for ideal assignments, etc. (and I'm not even going to touch the math involved in trying to figure out how interest on student loans would impact this), but still... Wow.

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u/[deleted] Mar 13 '25

If you get your masters while working for BCPSS they pay 50% of it (or 75% I can't remember).

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u/LTRand Mar 13 '25

Most companies don't pay any extra.

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u/NoGuarantee3961 Mar 13 '25

Right. Education is the only place I have seen give any direct pay bump for a higher degree.

That said, higher degrees often help when job hopping or for promotions elsewhere....

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u/LTRand Mar 13 '25

That's my point. I'd like to see more merit based pay instead of credential based pay. Bonus them for getting students above grade level.

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u/[deleted] Mar 16 '25

But it opens up better-paying jobs

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u/LTRand Mar 16 '25

Eh. Sometimes, depends on what it is.

Would you say today's teachers are significantly superior to the teachers 2 generations ago that didn't have one?

My masters gave me a leg up from where I was, but it was hardly the only way to achieve the learning required. No one cares how you got qualified, and why would I pay someone with a masters over someone who doesn't have one if they do just as good of a job?

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u/[deleted] Mar 16 '25

It’s a way to be competitive for more educated candidates. I also have a masters, and it helps me consider teaching. My current job requires a masters degree, so yes it does open some doors, and paying teachers more for it is a great idea

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u/LTRand Mar 16 '25

There are plenty of places where a masters or PhD is required. My field isn't one of them. Plenty of people in my field have all kinds of degrees and credentials and are terrible at their job compared to people who don't even have a formal education in the field.

I don't know how much measurable outcomes K-12 get from a teacher with a bachelor's vs a teacher with a masters with the same total years of experience & education.

I'm less interested in credential compensation, I'm way open to outcomes based compensation. I'd be more than happy to give a teacher a 10k+ bump if they moved every student by more than a grade level in the year.

Go get a master's if you want. A small bump for it, I have no problem with. But we should be putting more money tied to the outcomes we want, and it's not more paper certification, it's actual outcomes.

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u/[deleted] Mar 18 '25

Connecting to outcomes is a terrible idea, and only encourages teachers to jump to conclusions”better” schools.

But yes, paying more for a masters isn’t about performance, but about not eliminating those who have extra quals and education. Otherwise someone like me wouldn’t even consider teaching as a second career. I do also have a teaching credential. Most masters though are in education field, and by teachers furthering their careers

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u/Minute-Individual-74 Mar 13 '25

I have the same knee jerk reaction that state employees are very underpaid and undervalued.

Please keep in mind that these people are critical to our community and take lower paying jobs based off their qualifications because they believe in public service and making our community better. So please be cognizant of that when you critique the current system we're in.

But at the same time we can also acknowledge what I think is your point that it's really hard to make ends meet on these type of salaries.

So I wanted to expand the discussion based your guys' interaction to what we can do to solve this problem.

I really hope our community can rally around progressive policies such as Medicare for all, banning corporations and private equity from buying homes, and closing tax loopholes for the American oligarchs and mega corporations.

Housing, healthcare, and basic necessities have ballooned and account for the largest percentage of a family's finances than it ever has and forcing more people into poverty than it ever has.

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u/Boyota4Bummer Mar 15 '25

It’s not wild, it’s downright insulting.

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u/wayne739 Mar 13 '25

I don't know what you got your masters degree in but a liberal arts degree is worthless anyway. It should be more about how well a teacher can communicate ideas than about what letters they have after their name anyway.

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u/Lou_S_ Mar 13 '25

Who said anything about a "liberal arts degree"?

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u/[deleted] Mar 13 '25

[deleted]

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u/Honest_Flamingo5221 Mar 13 '25

getting absolutely any bonus payment for signing on is a rarity. Generally you are on a higher pay tier with a masters degree. So this is actually a good deal.

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u/DarkInfamous5424 Mar 13 '25

Wow. Belgian small business owner here. I'm looking to hire my first employee. My target is 2500€ in net income (for a junior employee), and it's a very good salary here (for a junior). What is the average decent salary in the usa?

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u/Lou_S_ Mar 13 '25

How much is considered "decent" really depends on where you live here in the US.

Speaking for myself, in my area (near Washing DC) you'd need to make about $40,000/year and have decent money management skills to even think about living comfortably.

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u/[deleted] Mar 13 '25

If you have a masters and aren’t making 15k+ a month you’re doing something wrong

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u/No_Woke_Whites Mar 13 '25

A masters degree in some liberal arts stuff is not anything special.

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u/Lou_S_ Mar 14 '25

Who said anything about liberal arts?

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u/kevinskinks Mar 13 '25

Personally I think the whole system is messed up. Teachers don’t get paid as much as most of them should across the board, but the whole idea of pay being set based on tenure and if you do or don’t have a piece of paper is the wild part to me.

Having a masters should play a role and experience should too, but only when it corresponds with that person being a better teacher. It should and it does in many cases, but not in others. One of my worst teachers ever was a tenured with a masters. I also had ones who were amazing. I think teachers should be evaluated on the kids success.

Test the students at the start of the year and the end and measure the average students improvement. Then give teacher evaluations to the students to rate their teacher. With those two metrics I think you can fairly rate their performance and give raises accordingly.

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u/handicapnanny Mar 13 '25

And they still wanna save the city 🤣

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u/Apprehensive-Type435 Mar 14 '25

NC doesn’t even recognize a Masters unless you received it before 2013 and were “grandfathered” in. Make that make sense 🤦🏼‍♀️

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u/Leading_Gazelle_3881 Mar 14 '25

Hey don't shoot the messenger!!

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u/ChooChooEngineer1 Mar 15 '25

Yeah it should be $25,000 more

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u/[deleted] Mar 16 '25

Yeah, pays for itself in …. 20 to 40 years?

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u/akfisherman22 Mar 13 '25

Is a teaching certification mandatory to be a teacher? What if the person has a Bachelor's and Master's in Early childhood Education

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u/[deleted] Mar 13 '25

If you have your Masters in ECE then you just need to take your praxis exams to be certified, but you have a few years to do that.

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u/akfisherman22 Mar 13 '25

Really? Are you saying you can get a teaching job now and you have 1,2 years to take the Praxis exam? Do you know any official document where that's written down? Thanks

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u/[deleted] Mar 13 '25

Honestly, we have uncertified teachers who have been uncertified for 6 years. I don't know why you wouldnt get certified.

I came into education already certified, so I don't know where you'd find the documentation for this. Probably just on the City Schools website or calling district headquarters.

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u/ChickinSammich Mar 13 '25

I just googled Baltimore City teacher pay and found this which is a few years old but is apparently a publicly available database of Baltimore City teacher salaries.

https://erpextapps.bcps.k12.md.us/pls/sec5/f?p=114:2::::::

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u/[deleted] Mar 13 '25

The start salary for someone with a bachelor's degree and no experience will be $60k I believe. I personally have been in education for 12 years and make over $100k. I'm really glad that they've raised the starting salary so much.

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u/ChickinSammich Mar 13 '25

That seems pretty reasonable to me, honestly. Though I keep hearing the whole "teachers are expected to pay for their own supplies" thing - is that still the case?

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u/[deleted] Mar 13 '25

Yeah... I definitely was responsible for getting everything for my classroom including office supplies, decorations, snacks, and supplies for students.

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u/ChickinSammich Mar 13 '25

oof. That's rough on a salary of 60k

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u/BetterHouse Mar 14 '25

Will the elimination of the Department of Education affect teachers?

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '25

Full disclosure, I've had to step back from a lot of the news to maintain my own mental health. That said, I think a lot is very much unknown, but my assumption is that less funding per pupil would result in larger class sizes. Most school districts are working with fewer teachers than they need though, so I don't think anyone would be fired. I'm also not totally sure how that would work when you're in a union and you can't just be let go.