Baltimore’s circuit court denied the request from a group of city teachers to approve their newly-revised ballot measure aiming to reduce child poverty.
In 2024, the Maryland Child Alliance — a group started by Baltimore teachers appalled by the everyday effects of poverty seen in their students — gathered enough signatures to put universal cash payments for new parents on the November ballot.
But Mayor Brandon Scott and the city council filed a lawsuit to have the measure, called the “Baltimore Baby Bonus,” removed from the election docket. The Maryland Supreme Court ruled in their favor, deeming the Baby Bonus unconstitutional.
The grassroots teacher group launched a new campaign in March, this time using the main critiques from the Supreme Court ruling to draft a new amendment — one that gives city council complete control over how to spend the designated pot of money that would be dedicated to supporting new parents.
Nate Golden, a city math teacher and campaign organizer, said the group filed a request for pre-election approval for the new amendment to avoid last-minute legal challenges in 2026.
“When you're filing a motion for declaratory judgment, you need to prove that you need relief from uncertainty, which certainly we have, and then you have an adversarial party,” Golden told WYPR. “We cited the mayor as our adversarial party.”
But Mayor Scott filed a motion to dismiss the group’s early approval request, saying he doesn’t have an opinion on the new amendment.
Golden says he doesn’t believe that’s true.
“We think they are eventually going to sue us, and we don't understand what their motives are to not want to settle this in advance,” he said. “What's the purpose of being the mayor of a city if you don't have public policy opinions?”
In an emailed statement, a spokesperson from Mayor Scott’s office said the recent ruling “affirms what the City knew when we filed last year: this amendment was not the correct way to address this critical issue.”
“We still sympathize with the underlying goals of the amendment and recognize the importance of supporting young families in need,” the email said. “We hope that the Baltimore Baby Bonus campaign will join our administration in calling for universal basic income at the federal level.”
Golden says the Maryland Child Alliance hasn’t been able to meet with the mayor’s office, despite requesting a conversation multiple times.
“The absolute worst case scenario where we collect the signatures, and then the mayor sues us again, and the court sides with the mayor is just like, it's there,” Golden said. “And that would mean a collective four years of collecting signatures and nothing to show for it.”
The group has already collected over 1,700 signatures for the revised Baby Fund amendment, Golden added. They only need 10,000 by the summer of 2026 to earn the ballot spot.
“Last time we launched this, there were three people at the start, and we had to learn how to run a campaign, learn how to collect signatures,” he said. “There was a big learning curve to it. This time we're starting with probably 30 to 40 volunteers and we know what we're doing.”
Golden said he just hopes all the time and effort — from people who already work “demanding” service jobs — won't be in vain.
