School budgets win big approvals
3 women elected to Albany school board; Spa project passes
School budgets across the Capital Region met with overwhelming approval Tuesday in an election that, again, drew few voters.
Budgets for Albany, Saratoga Springs, Schenectady, and Troy school districts were among the many that voters approved, according to unofficial results.
Despite the budgets’ influence on communities’ school property tax bills — often the largest single tax bill a family gets each year — about 560,000 New Yorkers voted on their local school budgets
last year.
This is a 43 percent drop since 2010, according to a study by the New York State Association of School Business Officials.
Voters were also asked to weigh in on building projects, bus purchases, library budgets and board seats.
In Albany, four people vied for three seats on the school board.
Incumbents Ellen Roach and Tabetha Wilson and newcomer Damarise Alexander-mann, who all ran on an informal slate, defeated Kenny Bruce. Bruce was on the board until last year, when he stepped down after fellow members concluded he had breached confidentiality during a superintendent search.
In Shenendehowa, write-in votes will have to be tallied to determine who fills the third vacant slot. Only incumbents Christina Rajotte and Robert Pressly submitted petitions with the required signatures. There were 983 write-in votes cast.
Saratoga Springs voters approved a $15.6 million proposal for outdoor improvements and renovations to the eight schools as well as Gavin Park, East Side Recreation Park and West Side Recreation Park, along with a $125.98 million budget.
The Voorheesville school district’s $24.7 million budget was approved alongside a $7.7 million capital project proposition. The spending will allow the district to replace boilers in all the buildings and renovate two earth science labs and a technology lab.
In Guilderland, approval of the school district’s $101 million budget will bring a mental health clinic inside the school and an American sign language class as a new elective. It will also restore advanced placement classes in English and computer science.
Results were not available from Hoosic Valley, Hoosick Falls or Lansingburgh.