GUILDERLAND — The school and library budgets passed handily in Guilderland on Tuesday.

So did the propositions for both traditional and electric buses as well as the sale of the Cobblestone Schoolhouse to the town.

All eyes were on the Promethean board in the Guilderland Elementary School gym on Tuesday night as the results were posted from the five elementary-school polling places.

As the last results were posted, the three winning school board candidates in a five-way race — top vote-getter Tara Molloy-Grocki, incumbent Blanca Gonzalez-Parker, and newcomer Nina Kaplan — hugged one another with smiles and some tears.

As the numbers were being posted, Superintendent Marie Wiles said, “I always worry.”

She went on, “It was a good budget considering the circumstances.”

She noted that the $125 million spending plan includes most of what the one-time federal funds to help with the pandemic had provided.

“The community tells us what they want and we were able to do it,” Wiles said, naming low class sizes, rigorous academic programs, and rich extracurriculars.

The unofficial tally showed 1,690 residents voting in favor and 648 voting against the budget — a more than 72-percent approval.

Only 50 percent was needed to pass the budget since it stayed under the state-set levy limit. About a third of the budget is funded with state aid while most of the remaining two-thirds comes from property taxes.

The levy will increase 2.7 percent while spending is up 4.5 percent over this year.

After the final tallies were posted, Wiles issued “a giant thank-you to our community.” She said the longstanding support for the schools “makes Guilderland the place you want to be.”

Guilderland for the first time put up two different bus propositions, meant to complement one another.

A $1.3 million proposition with gas- or diesel-fueled vehicles including six 65-passenger buses, a 24-passenger wheelchair-capable bus, a transportation maintenance truck, and a skid steer passed 1,719 to 672 — 72 percent of the vote.

The second bus proposition, for $407,500, will ultimately not cost the district anything as it will be paid for by an incentive program and state aid. The two electric buses — a 65-passenger bus and a 30-passenger bus — and a Level 2 charging station are to give the district a chance to learn how to drive and repair the vehicles administrators have said.

Schools have a state requirement that, starting in 2027, new buses must be zero-emissions — which means electric since hydrogen is not yet an option — and by 2035, all school buses must be zero-emissions.

The electric bus proposition passed by a vote of 1,688 to 722 with 70 percent of the vote.

Finally, the largest approval —  with 87 percent of the vote,  2,064 to 322 — was for the district to sell its 1860 Cobblestone Schoolhouse in Guilderland Center to the town for $10,000.

Voter approval was needed because the sale price is below market value. According to the Albany County assessment rolls, the property, which is an acre, with the schoolhouse, has a full-market value of $196,941.

Wiles said of the schoolhouse on Tuesday night, “I’m happy to put it in another set of hands with a nice grant.”

Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy, who was instrumental in seeing that the schoolhouse stayed in the public domain, has secured a grant towards its preservation.

All of the numbers in this story are unofficial and include both absentee and early-voting ballots but not affidavit ballots.

School board

The five-way race for three school board seats this year was made up of candidates who held many of the same values, for example, supporting the district’s efforts for diversity, equity, and inclusion.

This was a stark contrast to the last contested election two years ago where candidates were diametrically opposed on issues and the victorious slate was supported by the teachers’ union.

This year, the only incumbent won along with two teachers. For the first time, the Guilderland School Board will now be made up entirely of women. The results follow:

— Tara Molloy-Grocki was the top vote-getter with 1,373 votes. “I’m so excited; I’m humbled; I’m relieved,” she said on Election Night. Molloy-Grocki is retiring after 31 years of elementary school teaching and has served as president of the Guilderland teachers’ union and has been a public-school advocate at the local and state levels;

— Blanca Gonzalez-Parker came in second with 1,253 votes. “I’m elated,” she said on Election Night, wiping away tears. “And I’m full of energy to continue the hard work ahead.” A Guilderland graduate, Gonzalez-Parker started on the school board in 2020. She works in public health and has three children;

— Nina Kaplan came in third with 1,207 votes. “I feel grateful,” she said after the results were announced. “I feel enlightened.” Running for the board was a “great experience,” she said. “I learned so much. I can’t wait to get started.” Kaplan, the mother of three children, has been a social studies teacher for 21 years;

— Elizabeth Floyd Mair came in fourth with 1,063 votes. “I did my best,” she said after the results were announced. “I feel good about running. I really stretched myself,” she said of knocking on doors and speaking in public. “I found a lot of support so gratifying.” A former Enterprise reporter, she now works for the county’s Department of Law, drafting legal documents related to child neglect and abuse;

—  Mateo Dunagan came in last with 533 votes. “I’m very glad I ran because I love serving others,” he said on Election Night. “I believe in accepting results …,” he said. “I concede, and I’m very proud of Tara, Blanca, and Nina in their election win.” Dunagan works as a customer service clerk at Hannaford Supermarket in Guilderland.

The posts on the nine-member board are unpaid.

GPL

The $4.4 million Guilderland Public Library budget passed, 1,684 to 721, with 70 percent of the vote despite handmade signs posted around town, calling for a budget defeat. The library has never had a budget voted down.

Spending is up from $4.3 million this year and the levy is up 2.4 percent, which is under the state-set tax cap.

The library’s interim director, Nathaniel Heyer, said he took a collaborative approach in drafting the budget, working with the board of trustees.  “We are bringing in sensitivity training … creating those kinds of conversations about diversity and inclusion,” he said in the wake of the library’s café closing with the owner alleging racism.

The library follows school district lines although it has its own elected board that sets its budget.

The lion’s share of the district is in Guilderland where residents will pay $1.02 per $1,000 of assessed value. Parts of three other towns are also in the district: The Bethlehem rate is $1.15 per $1,000; the New Scotland rate is $1.17; and the rate in Knox, which hasn’t undertaken a town-wide property revaluation for decades, is $2.21 per $1,000 of valuation.

The library board going forward will be made up of nine unpaid members rather than the previous 11. And since two members recently resigned, all three candidates running in Tuesday’s election will be on the board with those getting the most votes serving longer terms.

The results follow:

— Barbara Fraterrigo was the top vote-getter with 838 votes. She has been a trustee since 1988 when the Guilderland library moved from being a free library to a public library. She said during her campaign she was proudest of “supporting the staff and getting so many programs with out-of-the box thinking on the part of the staff … encouraging the staff to be inventive and just marvelous. I think we have one of the premier libraries in the Capital District now”;

— Michael Hawrylchak came in second with 715 votes. A lawyer, he was elected as a library trustee in 2021. He said during his campaign that one of his priorities has been “our processes for budget development and long-term financial planning.” Gradually and especially recently, Hawrylchak said, good progress has been made in “changing some of our budgeting processes … but I think there’s still work to be done;”

— Michael Puspurs came in third with 245 votes. Making his first run for the board, he said during his campaign, “I wanted to make sure that the library was being a place that’s welcoming to everyone. There shouldn’t be any kind of discrimination.” A librarian himself, Puspurs currently works for the State Education Department, licensing dentists, optometrists, and chiropractors; going to board meetings for those professions, he said, gives him experience he’ll use as a trustee.