GUILDERLAND — Guilderland voters on Tuesday passed a $105 million budget for next year with nearly 69 percent of the vote.

“All year long, we’ve heard nothing but gratitude from our families,” said Superintendent Marie Wiles moments after the vote was announced at about 10:30 on Tuesday night. She referenced the way learning continued despite the pandemic.

“So today’s my chance to say I have lots of gratitude,” said Wiles, promising that the support would “make sure next year is better than this year.”

Last year, with mail-in ballots, well over 7,000 people voted in the Guilderland school elections. On Tuesday, numbers returned to under 2,600.

The $104,979,570 budget carries a 1.89-percent increase in spending over the current year’s budget and will result in a 1.28-percent tax levy increase, which is at the district’s levy limit.

At the same time, nearly 70 percent of district voters approved spending up to $1,033,200 to buy eight 66-passenger school buses and a district delivery vehicle, about half of which will be returned to the district in state aid.

The school board’s incumbent president, Seema Rivera, was the top vote-getter in a four-way race for three seats. She received 1,707 votes, or 66.2 percent.

“I’m really excited to see some new faces on both the school and library boards,” Rivera told The Enterprise. Her husband was elected a library trustee.

Rivera works as an assistant professor at Clarkson University.

“Competition is good for the community,” Rivera said. She noted it had been a tough year with the pandemic, a recent cyber attack, and diversity issues. Rivera has been a leader in pushing for recognition of racism in the schools.

“It feels good to be supported by the community,” she concluded.

Incumbent Blanca Gonzalez-Parker came in second with 1,481 votes or 57.5 percent. She works as a program associate for safety and health for NYS-CSEA.

Gonzalez-Parker said that, while she loves serving on the board, she gets anxious running and was relieved with the results on Election Night. She credits her win with her ability to listen to the community. “I treat every issue as a separate issue,” she said.

Newcomer Nathan Sabourin, an attorney, came in third with 1,400 votes or 54.3 percent, ousting incumbent Luciano Alonzi.

“I’m excited,” Sabourin said on hearing the results. “It seemed like people responded to what I had to say,” he said, noting his call to “push forward with EDI” — a reference to equity, diversity, and inclusion — and placing “another parent and taxpayer on the board.”

Alonzi, who got  1,324 votes or 51.4 percent, was elected last year, just as he was completing his college degree in athletic training. “I enjoyed my time on the board. I think I had a positive impact,” he said after hearing the results.  Alonzi said he didn’t think he would run again soon as he would focus on employment. He still has work to finish on the board, he said.

The three-year posts on the nine-member board are unpaid.

Guilderland was typical of districts across the state. According to numbers released Wednesday morning by the New York State School Boards Association, over 99 percent of school budgets passed. Voters approved 660 school district budgets, while five were defeated.

Schools statewide proposed a modest average tax levy for 2021-22 that was just 1.3 percent higher than the current year’s. A decade after the state's property tax cap went into effect, 654 districts proposed budgets with tax levies that were within their caps and required only a simple majority to pass. Of those districts, 99.7 percent saw their budgets pass.

Twenty-one districts had budgets with tax levies that exceeded the cap and required a 60-percent supermajority to pass. Of those districts, 85.7 percent had their budgets approved, which is significantly higher than the previous nine-year average under the tax cap of 59.2 percent.

The average budget passage rate since 1969 is 86.4 percent. Since the introduction of the tax cap in 2012, the average passage rate for school district budgets is 98 percent.