Career center bond could come quickly if U-32 satellite is viable

June 15, 2026  |  By David Delcore

BARRE — The possibility of another November bond vote is creeping closer to reality for the board of the Central Vermont Career Center, and it may have inched forward again Monday night.

A month after embracing a change of plans proposed following a failed bond vote last November, the CVCC board was scheduled to consider putting its architect back to work and tapping the district’s fund balance to cover what estimates suggest could be a six-figure expense.

TruexCullins is willing; and roughly $100,000 is available for them. Now there is a more viable alternative to the $149 million standalone center that was collectively rejected by voters in the 18-town district seven months ago.

While November is still five months away, November is just five months away. Adding a bond issue to the general election ballot will require having conceptual plans and a credible cost estimate in hand by mid-October.

The time frame is daunting but doable, officials say. However, it will hinge on more of a head nod than CVCC Superintendent Jody Emerson received from the Washington Central School Board last week. That board was cautiously open to an idea of co-located a satellite of the center, which has operated out of the wing of Spaulding High School since it opened in 1969, on the campus of U-32 Middle and High School in East Montpelier.

Early in the process that led to last year’s failed bond vote, the possibility of building the standalone center at U-32 was briefly considered. The CVCC board opted instead to propose a new center on property it still has under option in Barre Town.

The high cost of that project fueled its 5,751-3,873 failure in what was, for most voters, a single-issue special election. However, some were also critical of what they perceived as an out-of-the-way location, while others weren’t persuaded there was a need to sever the center’s long-standing ties with Spaulding.

The product of a months-long process that included some vocal critics of the failed bond project, the latest proposal contemplates retaining some of the center’s programs at Spaulding while constructing a smaller, 61,000-square-foot facility on the U-32 campus.

Preliminary estimates suggest the cost of building and equipping the latter facility would be $73.5 million, though Emerson told the Washington Central board that figure is subject to revision.

With the state nudging districts down a path that could lead to identifying regional high schools, having a presence at two campuses — Spaulding and U-32 — that could fit that bill makes sense, according to Emerson. She didn’t get an argument from the Washington Central board, but some members said they’ll need to hear more before openly supporting a proposal that, at first blush, makes sense.

It was a definite maybe, which probably isn’t enough to turn TruexCullins loose preparing conceptual plans for the property, but the hope is the Washington Central board will be able to send a clear enough signal to allow work to start when it meets next week.

Emerson said it doesn’t need to be a firm commitment, but there must be enough support to justify spending resources on designing the project, in preparation for a November bond vote.

To expedite the work, the CVCC board was scheduled to be asked to approve an amendment to its earlier contract with TruexCullins and to agree to cover the cost of that work with the available fund balance.

It was also scheduled to be briefed on plans to market a potential bond vote. Those plans, Emerson said Monday, would lean on Nick Charyk. Charyk, who works with Downs Rachlin Martin, was brought in late in last year’s bond process and is familiar with the CVCC board’s interest in expanding access to its programs to students from the six high schools — Spaulding and U-32 among them — served by the regional center.

That remains the overriding goal of a project that has undergone a massive change in scope and scale, and, if estimates are accurate, can be achieved for roughly half the cost.

As currently envisioned, the multi-campus model would retain programs in two career pathways — transportation and construction trades — at Spaulding, as well as an expanded exploratory program. The satellite facility at U-32 would house programs in the center’s two other career pathways — health and human services, and art, business and hospitality.

As currently envisioned, the new building would require relocating at least one, and perhaps both, of the practice fields at U-32.

Assuming the Washington Central board is interested, identifying a preferred location and settling on an alternative site for one or more of the fields would be among the next steps, as would working out an arrangement to share the cafeteria, library and auditorium at U-32.