Baltimore City school finances are sound enough to handle a significant hit from the federal government of up to $48 million without creating a financial crisis, school officials said this week.

Last month, the Trump administration said it was reneging on a promise to give Maryland schools up to $418 million in pandemic recovery funds, even though some of the money has already been spent. State officials said school districts had already spent about $305 million of that.

Baltimore City schools had expected to get reimbursed this year for about $48 million for tutoring, after-school programs, health suite renovations and other expenditures. About $32 million of that has already been spent.

City officials said they have been putting aside funds for a number of years into a so-called rainy day fund, in case of unforeseen circumstances or emergencies. The fund has about $69 million in it, said CEO Sonja Santelises.

“This is unexpected, clearly challenging and difficult,” Santelises said at a school board meeting on Tuesday. “I want you to know that we will work to identify other programs that can be cut to cover the impact.”

Congress had provided billions to the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, known as ESSER. Those funds were supposed to be spent already, but many Maryland school systems secured extensions to spend the money through 2026.

When the U.S. Secretary of Education sent a letter to every state saying the department had changed its mind about giving extensions, the city took immediate action to stop spending on the projects it had identified for pandemic money.

Tutoring for 1,100 Baltimore students during the school day at 25 sites ended this week, and on Friday, the school system will close after-school programs for 3,000 students at 44 schools and one virtual program.

City schools expected to have spent all of the $700 million of ESSER funding by July 2025.

School systems spend the money and then ask the state for reimbursement. The state then reimburses school systems with money from the federal education department.

But Maryland school officials said they cannot reimburse systems for what has already been spent and that the feds won’t pay for. In other words, they aren’t picking up the tab.

“The Maryland State Department of Education is collecting expenditure information from all local school systems, but will not make additional reimbursements at this time,” a department spokesperson said in a statement. The state is asking the federal education department for reimbursements — based on one line in the letter that says states can apply for reimbursements in special cases — but the letter did not specify what those might be.

Over the decades, city schools have been plagued by financial issues. In 2004, the city had to bail out the schools to avert an imminent financial collapse when the school system had a $58 million deficit. But Santelises said she has tried to keep finances on track, including rejecting political pressure to give contracts to groups that don’t provide services the schools need.

Baltimore County school officials said the system had no outstanding expenditures that needed to be reimbursed. Anne Arundel is left with a $264,000 expenditure on Chromebooks for students that will not be reimbursed.

Prince George’s and Montgomery counties have not said how much they are owed from the federal government.

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