The Forum could not find a student willing to argue “the other side,” so we asked Wilson Roberts to imagine what this argument might be.

Sudbury is known for its exceptional school system, but also for perpetually increasing taxes. In the recent override vote, Sudbury residents finally decided that their taxes are high enough and that the school system would have to seek other ways to balance its budget. This vote has created controversy throughout the town and is clearly a topic a serious topic of discussion among residents. Now in the aftermath of the vote, is it really so bad that the override did not pass?
The failure of the override could actually have a positive impact. A benefit of the vote is the reassessment of the schools budget. In recent years, the school has relied heavily on increased taxes to supplement the ever growing needs of its budget. While increasing taxes is obviously the easiest way to keep the budget balanced, the school now must pull from different resources other than Sudbury residents. The town expressed its desire to end tax increases and as a result, the school must deal with the consequences of a tighter budget. It seems like the school is sometimes irresponsible with its budget and reassessment will ultimately merit a superior distribution of funds.
The main issue students take with the budget decrease is the strain it will place on athletics. L-S provides many athletic opportunities for its students, some of which seem to be taken for granted. One way to salvage these programs is to raise the athletic fee above the already high 165 dollars.
Finally, the override affects retired Sudbury residents who no longer have children in the school system, and have lower incomes than many younger families. Raising taxes would place a large and unjust strain on those older town residents.
We may lose some teachers, we may lose some of our cherished sports teams, but no community that has been forced to reassess itself has ever gone back and said it did not help itself in some way.