By Joel Iglesias :
Since mid-February 2021, a lot of the discourse related to our local government and school system has been about Question 1: whether or not Belmont should increase property taxes in order to supplement the capital budget and school and town operating budget. With opposing committees and unprecedented interest from the student body, this election may be one of the highest in terms of voter turnout in the “Town of Homes.” But what exactly does the student body think?
When asked their opinions on the override and whether they believe people should vote “yes” or “no,” four class officers – senior class president Edward Lee, junior class president Hamza Masoud, sophomore class vice president Molly Plunkett, and freshmen class vice president Meredith Kauff – all agreed that people should vote “yes” on April 6th, with only Lee believing that he shouldn’t have strong opinions regarding the override because he “is not a taxpayer,” so he won’t “really experience the immediate financial effects of the override.”
I followed up with the officers and asked if they thought that most of their classmates agreed with them. Both presidents stated that while they were not sure if a majority was in agreement with them, they believed that a large part of the classes were. Junior class president Masoud said, “At least from what I've seen, the students in favor of the override seem to be more vocal about their opinion than those who disagree.” When asked the same question, the vice presidents said that they believed a majority of their classmates agreed with them.
Lastly, I asked the officers what positive and negative effects they thought the override would have on the high school and on Belmont as a whole, if it were to pass. They all agreed that a negative effect of the override would be increased taxes; senior class president Lee specifically noted that an increase in taxes is “something that could make staying in this town unaffordable for some and force people to move.” But on the positive side, each officer was able to come up with at least one unique reason why an override should pass or what positive outcomes a “yes” would have: Masoud stated that “if this one doesn't pass, we'll just be facing bigger and bigger overrides in the future”; Lee said that “if the override passes, many Belmont programs and services will continue to be supported,” including “school music and athletic programs, as well town services like library operation hours”; Plunkett brought up the fact that a “yes” vote would benefit Belmont’s “advanced school system,” the biggest reason people choose to move into Belmont; and Kauff said that the override passing would support “programs” that “have a positive impact on our community by teaching kids important skills such as teamwork, leadership, and perseverance.”
Overall, the class officers were in agreement with each other on all but one question, showing consistency between the classes. For deeper insight, I decided to ask the same questions I had posed to the class officers to four students: one senior, two juniors, and one sophomore.
Junior student athlete and PAC actor Erik Rosenmeier fully supports the override; he noted that “PAC stuff and rugby gear is not inexpensive,” and “kids need extracurriculars now, more than ever.” Erik also believes that “most” of his classmates agree with him. When asked about the positive and negative effects of a “yes” outcome, he answered similarly to the class officers, stating that it would “raise taxes, and it’s not a great time for that since people need money in their pockets,” but also that it will produce “higher quality school extracurriculars,” leading to a positive impact on the students both emotionally and academically.
Sophomore student athlete Parsa Sokhanvar reluctantly supports the override:
“If I could vote, I would vote ‘yes.’ However, I feel like the best option would be to go back to the drawing board and rearrange town funds, specifically by decreasing salaries of overpaid workers and investing in municipal services that provide increased revenue for the town.”
Parsa believes that an override should occur because schools need to remain funded so that the Belmont education system can remain the way it is, or possibly even increase in prestige. The student athlete also “believes that most of [his] classmates would agree with [him] because they’re all students,” and they would “prefer to have a better education, better funding, and better resources in school.” Parsa commented that the only negative impact of the override on the school and the community would be its “impact on lower-income families” and “businesses that are low revenue,” because it “could force some families to leave and some businesses to close.” Still, he emphasized that only “some” families would be hit hard by the override, and that BHS students would enjoy a better-performing school.
Next, I posed some questions to senior student athlete, artist, and activist Divya Natarajan, who has been incredibly vocal on Question 1. Divya, who strongly believes that people should vote “yes” on April 6th, stated her various concerns about a possible “no” outcome: a “no” vote would lead to “the arts or other electives having funding cut by 40%” and would “cause Belmont public schools to lose around 13 teachers.” Divya said that she attributes her “mental well-being” to her teachers, especially Milo, the AP Art teacher – AP Art is one of the classes that could be worst hit by a “no” to the override.
Divya being an activist, I decided to ask her a question based on a common concern regarding a “yes” outcome on April 6th. I asked Divya, “How would you respond to the argument that raising taxes in Belmont could further segregate the school, economically and racially, especially since METCO is slowly fading away, and Belmont’s schools right now are only 3% Black, 20% Asian, and 65% white?”
Divya fully and thoughtfully answered this question. Firstly, she tackled economic segregation, affirming that she believes voting “yes” will not segregate the school and will instead do “quite the opposite,” as “it is the ability to fund these programs that will allow us to have economic inclusion in our schools.” She further stated that defunding these programs will not hurt the wealthier Belmontians; rather, it will hurt the ones who cannot afford private extracurricular programs like sports clubs or RSM for math. Like junior class president Masoud, Divya said that “delaying this override [means that] there is inevitably going to be another override, and the next override is only going to be more extreme.” She also pointed out that the next override (if the current one does not pass) would only more extremely hurt families living “paycheck to paycheck.”
Secondly, Divya undertook the question of racial segregation. In order to explain why METCO is fading, she referenced an Atlantic article that we had previously discussed. She explained that “there is affordability, there is geography, and the [reason] that stood out to me the most [is that] students get into these high schools through METCO only if there are seats available, and they are accepted in the order [in] which they sign up for the program.” She went on to detail how the override deals with the third reason, “seats available” in Belmont: if the override were to pass, it would help the Belmont school system keep up with the rapid increase in student enrollment it has seen in recent years.
In response to racial segregation, Divya also mentioned class sizes, which will only increase if the override does not pass. She said that an increase in class sizes will make diverse voices like hers less audible: “[T]hose [student:teacher] ratios are so important,” because not only do small class sizes “give [kids] a place in a classroom,” but also, they provide those kids with “the attention they need in order to really say what they need to say.” Divya expressed that her greatest concern regarding class sizes is that “if these classes only get bigger,” then “voices only become more and more like echoes… especially those of the minorities.”
Divya ended the interview with this last thought:
“A student’s educational success relies on getting the thoughtful attention and space they need to truly grow into their full potential and add diversity to the ever-changing academic space at Belmont High School.”
Finding an opposing view within the student body for this article proved rather hard. Each person I spoke with didn’t feel comfortable with having their name published alongside their views; some didn’t even feel comfortable remaining anonymous. But one junior did feel comfortable expressing their views anonymously. I asked them the same questions I asked all of the other students.
When asked the first question, they had a long answer. They began by saying, “Raising taxes drastically in Belmont, a city with one of the highest tax rates in MA, is beyond [unreasonable] and super self-destructive.” They continued, “Higher taxes will force families to leave our town… [and] raise rents for people who [cannot] afford to buy homes” and for “small businesses.” Clearly, the anonymous junior does not want the override to pass. They want voters on April 6th to think critically about their vote because if the override passes, they believe that Belmont “will no longer be [the] ‘Town of Homes’... it will be the ‘Town of Unaffordable Homes.’”
Asked the same question as all the other students, the anonymous junior was the only person to say that they believed their classmates did not agree with them. They commented that “there are a lot of rich people in Belmont and rich people feel guilty,” which “leads to overcompensating with liberalism.”
Finally, I asked the anonymous junior what they thought the positive and negative effects of a “yes” outcome would be. They replied, “There are no benefits from allowing the school officials to get away with spending [far] more than their budget.” They added, “If that happened in a business, they would be fired immediately and would have real trouble getting another job, because it would be a massive embarrassment.”
It seems that the majority of students with an opinion, from athletes to artists to class officers, are in favor of a “yes” vote. But, interestingly enough, it appears that a lot of students – maybe even most – don't have an opinion, this stemming from either a lack of knowledge on the issue, a lack of interest, or both. Also important to note is that many students in favor of a “no” outcome are silent on the issue, with several students with whom I’ve spoken preferring to remain anonymous when being quoted about the issue, or even not feeling comfortable with answering questions at all.
Regardless, the Belmont High School student body has a clear preference: an outcome of “yes” on Question 1 on April 6th.