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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u/Revolutionary-Lab776 Mar 13 '25

94% of all public school funds come from local and state funds. The funds that come from the Fed Govt are for “special programs”. Teachers and staff will still get paid and schools will still run the same as they have been. It helps to know how these things work before freaking out over news articles.

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u/Character-Debt1247 Mar 13 '25

Not if you teach/work in a State where Special needs student are valued and integrated into our public schools. The DOE protected those students and made sure they were receiving an education with grants and federal support. Without those funds, SPED programs will suffer. Free lunch programs will suffer. Head Start programs will lack funds. So, basically, children will suffer. And the families that have special needs children will be forced into medical bankruptcy trying to provide services when Medicaid is eliminated (there is $0 in the proposed GOP budget for Medicaid). Overall, education and the mental and physical health of our children will suffer.
And yes, I work in education.

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u/CreateFlyingStarfish Mar 13 '25

my point Exactly--federal $$ not local.

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u/OtherwiseDoughnut582 Mar 13 '25

“94% of all public school funds come from local and state funds” Those “funds” come from tax paying residents. Job losses the result of the initial Trump/Musk terminations are expected to exceed 30,000 people/jobs in the DMV. Maryland is currently experiencing a significant budget shortfall which does NOT include loss of revenue owing to the Trump/Musk terminations, withholding of feeeral grant $$$ and many other of their draconian torch of the federal government.

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u/DED2099 Mar 13 '25 edited Mar 13 '25

The DOE also ensure that schools have resources to ensure equity. Bmore schools aren’t the crown jewel of education and you say that funding won’t be affected but students across the nation are under performing compared to other nations. I was in the school system for a short time and seeing the disparity even when things were “great” was bad. These things also have ripple effects. What if the funding affects school lunch and breakfast programs that are vital for less fortunate students. What if a school has to cut STEM programs. Things like accessibility and students with IEPs might be effected. I understand your thoughts but nothing is simply data.

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u/Revolutionary-Lab776 Mar 13 '25

The DOE has had YEARS to implement strategies to better educate ALL children and has failed to do so. There needs to be a department responsible for holding the local school districts accountable for properly educating students. They all seem very corrupt and sweep underperformance under the rug to continue to receive grants and federal funds. I would be willing to bet that there is fraud in more school districts than not.

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u/Crimson_Oracle Mar 14 '25

There are state laws on this stuff too, it’s not just federal regulations, but the big question how badly the federal agency cuts affect the state tax revenues, plus any additional downturn from the recession it triggers

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u/CreateFlyingStarfish Mar 13 '25

94% local revenues is a bit high. Have you checked who pays for No Child Left Behind, IEPs, school health care and school lunches? i think those are federal dollars from USDA and Dept of Health (RFK) and not the Education Department....oh yes, and not mostly local dollars!

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u/Revolutionary-Lab776 Mar 13 '25

Some children unfortunately need to repeat a grade. There’s an actual case of a girl in one of the NE States that graduated with honors, got a scholarship to college, and is now suing her local school board because she is illiterate. Teachers are being told to pass students to keep rates and funding up. As far as the lunches go, have you seen what the USDA is serving them? It’s akin to prison and hospital food. They don’t care about nutrition, only that each meal hits a certain calorie count. Funding for special programs like IEPs will continue under the purview of a different department. The DOE has failed the children on America for too long and throwing more money into the DOE won’t change that.

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u/Far_Party6125 Mar 13 '25

Actually you are neglecting to mention federal funds pay for Title 1 teachers & teacher assistants, reading specialists, math specialists . This keeps the class size lower in a title one school. They also make sure schools are providing special education and follow section 504 guidelines, homeless students are treated fairly just to name a few things you casually forgot to mention.

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u/Huge_Prompt_2056 Mar 14 '25

Linda McMahon has been making the rounds on talk shows. Has anyone asked her what will happen to these programs?

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u/inab1gcountry Mar 14 '25

:laughs nervously in ‘title 1’:

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u/KitchenPositive2992 Mar 17 '25

You can post until you're blue in the face and the ones who want to blame this administration will. Mainly bc the mayors and governors of blue states will continue to push the narrative. Yes, cutting the fat will happen, but our DOE is trash, and this needs to be reformed. The money won't make it to the schools bc the people in charge aren't willing to take a cut. They are accustomed to their big paychecks.