High-Tax Democrat State’s $1,400,000,000 Deficit The ‘Inevitable Result Of One-Party Rule,' Lawmakers Say
Maryland is facing down a budget deficit of about $1.4 billion for fiscal year 2027, according to budget projections released on Wednesday.
MD Facing A Budget Deficit Of $1.4 billion!
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Democrats have never been famous for their fiscal responsibility.
NorthBeachPerso
Honorary SMIB
That should have been Attorney General Anthony "Empty Suit" Brown's bailiwick.
Y'all pissed and moaned about Mike Miller and Mike Busch for decades but at least they more or less kept the crazies in the Legislature in line. They're dead now and you can see what that meant.
Despite his protestations Moore is looking to 2028 as either President or Vice=President. I doubt he'd take a Cabinet post since they're usually a dead end and reward for years of activity (which is why I was surprised that Rubio took one).
sunshine98
Active Member
Does anyone actually understand that money-sink called Blueprint for Education? Can someone explain it to me? Doesn't seem like it is working.
glhs837
Power with Control
Agreed. Which is why he's polishing his "accomplishments" now.
Yes he did
NorthBeachPerso
Honorary SMIB
Erlich left O' Malley with a surplus also. When he took over O' Malley's first act was to call a special session of the Legislature to cut $500M out of the budget. When that session was over $1.5B of new spending had been added.
Yes. No. Maybe.
The history of it goes back over thirty years to the Thornton Plan. That was supposed to upgrade the state's schools to make them state of the art and, especially with regards to tech. It created a floor for achievement (what were then called the Functional Tests in high school). It was followed at the federal level by No Child Left Behind and the various follow-ons. The Blueprint is just Maryland's version.
What no one realizes is that every single education reform since A Nation at Risk was released in the 1980s, including in Maryland, has been aimed at the lowest performing, multigenerational cohort of underachievers. EVERY SINGLE ONE.
Schools don't give a rat's ass about the average students who, with a little instruction, will pass the tests and graduate or the upper level students who almost can teach themselves or with minimal intervention. You know, the kids that read, the ones whose parents actually try to teach them things and pay attention to them. All the air in the room is taken up by the bottom 20 or 30 percent who come to school years behind across the educational spectrum. That means that they can't count, don't recognize letters, some don't know their real names, don't know colors, eat nothing but Red Hot Cheetos, etc. That lowest cohort is who drives the schools and the rankings. If they don't meet standard then the school doesn't.
One other thing. There was never a "Golden Age of US Education". Those that didn't achieve dropped out, 8th Grade, or lower, was Senior year for millions of people. No one noticed them because they were out of the system. Now they're counted.
I graduated from high school in 1972 and we had the outstanding graduation rate of 100%, around 200 kids. Great, except our class had started out with over 250. Those 50 would be counted against the school now. That's why you have so many 5th and 6th year Seniors now, the schools and parents won't let them drop out (some are there by Court order) so here they come, getting parachuted into any class with an opening in hopes they get enough credits to graduate before they turn 21, when they, usually, have to leave.
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LightRoasted
If I may ...
For your consideration ...
Back in those days, an eight grade education was all that was required/necessary. Those eight graders of the past learned and knew far more and would put a hurting on a 2nd year collage/university students today. I also believe that back then discipline was very strong and enforced.
Back in those days, an eight grade education was all that was required/necessary. Those eight graders of the past learned and knew far more and would put a hurting on a 2nd year collage/university students today. I also believe that back then discipline was very strong and enforced.
NorthBeachPerso
Honorary SMIB
And that's the thing, putting glass containers or plastic closures (my personal manufacturing examples) in boxes didn't even need an 8th Grade education if we're being honest. All you needed was some manual dexterity and decent eyesight to pick up flaws.
But those jobs are largely gone, either offshored, automated or legislated out of existence (go back to offshored). Now even a guy turning wrenches at an auto shop needs at least some computer skills.
What's the solution? I don't have a clue. Even if manufacturing comes back (which in Maryland it won't because of all the very special people here that call it home-see "O' Malley running the Beretta firearm plant out of the state") it's going to be highly automated and computerized, just like your new car that precisely delivers the exact amount of gas to each spark plug. I saw the beginnings of that computerized manufacturing control going on fifty years ago when I worked in manufacturing.
The reality isn't that people in the aggregate haven't gotten dumber (although the dumb ones are the ones who make the news about the state of the schools) but the needs for work have gotten to the point that jobs need more and more smart people, who just aren't there.
Go back to the Bell Curve: 5% of people are way below average, 10% are a little below average, 70% are average, 10% are above average, 5% are way above average.
I'm guessing that most of the people on here went to school when there was tracking in academic groups. While there was sometimes some crossover between the tracks most kids stayed in the Academic/College Prep classes for what they took and the General kids stayed in theirs and were the ones steered towards Shop classes and Vo-Tech (once those schools were developed as stand alone).
One way a teacher gets a trip to career counseling today is to suggest trades (except Cosmetology) to a kid. Really for any kid but especially suggesting it to a minority. Ask me how I know.
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glhs837
Power with Control
But of course, its racist to think that a minority kid cant/shouldnt go to college. But in reality, we've been sending kids of all races who should never have gone. And let them borrow stupid amounts of money for degrees that have no hope in hell of ever landing a job that can pay those loans back. But since Uncle Sugars backing them, we'll keep lending.
What the colleges did was invent whole new "career" tracks to let the less smart still get degrees. All that soft science bullshEIT.
Wickedwrench
Stubborn and opinionated
This thinking goes back a long way. I realized that college wasn't going to happen for me during my sophomore year of high school, so I enrolled at the tech center starting my junior year. I caught absolute hell from my teachers for wanting to waste my life learning a trade. This was back in the late 80s.
sunshine98
Active Member
All those people who are against kids going into trades should put their money where their mouth is. Are they going to give the kid $120K+ so they can go to college?
It took four years of working for Uncle Sugar to get my head on straight to attend college.
What do they think we're going to do when there are no more plumbers and electricians and car mechanics and garbage guys and watermen? I think if you ask most people they will tell you they value their dog groomer more than a hedge fund manager.