Earlier this month, Mayor Brandon Scott and the City Council filed a lawsuit to remove the Baltimore Baby Bonus from the general election ballot. The proposed charter amendment, which was signed by over 10,000 registered Baltimore City voters, would provide a direct cash payment of at least $1,000 to all parents after the birth or adoption of a child.
To attempt to remove a charter amendment already certified by the Board of Elections eight weeks after the primary election speaks to a concerning reality—that our elected officials have no qualms about overriding the will of thousands of residents exercising their civic right to place a question on the ballot and subverting the democratic process when it suits their immediate political needs.
Last spring, Governor Wes Moore warned us that tough fiscal times were ahead. This month, he proposed a state budget that imposes nearly $150 million in spending cuts for the next year. With the loss of many Black and brown residents, our shrinking tax base compounds the state’s ongoing budgetary crisis.
Responsible, straightforward investments in young parents and children that incentivize our residents to stay and build their families in our city are not only smart and worthwhile budgetary choices, but they are also necessary to Baltimore’s future.
But not all spending is created equal. Responsible, straightforward investments in young parents and children that incentivize our residents to stay and build their families in our city are not only smart and worthwhile budgetary choices, but they are also necessary to Baltimore’s future. Research suggests that the earlier in a child’s life we make a monetary investment, the higher the return on that investment down the line.
Governor Moore knows this — despite cuts to state agencies, he has pledged to retain every penny of funding for K-12 education, and is expanding resources for state childcare initiatives. In fact, in unveiling the ENOUGH Act, the Moore-Miller administration described “ending the cycle of generational poverty” as “the heart of our administration’s mission since day one.”
Mayor Scott also purports to recognize the value of investing in young parents and children. As organizers of the Baby Bonus campaign stated in their press release after City Hall’s announcement, the amendment’s funding structure was based on the Baltimore Children & Youth Fund, a basic income program introduced by Mayor Scott when he was a city councilman in 2016.
As the saying goes, budgets are moral documents. What we fund and how we fund it with our collective resources is a direct statement of our values as a city. At a time when thousands of families are leaving Baltimore City, what statement do we send to residents when funding our public schools is a “gut punch” to City Hall and we can’t afford to fund grassroots initiatives like the Baby Bonus, but the Baltimore Police Department receives a larger share of the City General Fund than city schools do? It tells Baltimoreans that our parents and children are not our city’s priority.
We call on Mayor Scott and City Councilman Mark Conway, Chair of the Public Safety Committee, to issue a public withdrawal of their names from the lawsuit against the Baltimore Baby Bonus and endorse the democratic right of the people to vote on it in November.
Ethan Eblaghie is a sociology student at Columbia University, an organizer with Baltimore DSA, and former Student Commissioner of Baltimore City Public Schools.
Salimah Jasani is an education consultant, former Baltimore City Public Schools special education teacher, and former candidate for the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners.
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