Nov. 4: CVCC board sets bond vote for new career center

September 11, 2025  |  By David Delcore  |  Times Argus staff writer

Update Sept. 27: The graphic in this post was updated to include Worcester which was left off the original chart.

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BARRE — The board responsible for running the Central Vermont Career Center just made its plans to ask voters in 18 area towns for $149 million to build a brand-new facility in Graniteville official.

The board’s decision to warn a Nov. 4 special election was unanimous Monday night. It was also anticlimactic.

A week after asking Superintendent Jody Emerson to draft a warning that reflected its interest in asking voters to make what has since been pitched as “a once-in-a-lifetime investment” in a modern, new center, the board didn’t blink at the price tag.

It’s one that estimates suggest would cover the cost of constructing and equipping a modern new center designed to provide full-day programming to far more students than can be served in the wing of Spaulding High School the center has occupied since it opened in Barre in 1969.

The board’s decision officially sets the stage for a bond vote that will be held in the 18 towns that are members of one of its six sending school districts — Barre, Montpelier-Roxbury, Washington Central, Harwood, Twinfield, and Cabot.

The language of the only question on the ballot is a mouthful, that begins with what is part preamble and part disclaimer, and ends with the money question.

It reads: “The Central Vermont Career Center School Board proposes to incur bonded indebtedness for the purpose of building a new technical center at the estimated total project cost of $149,000,000. The School Construction Aid Program is currently under suspension by the Vermont State Legislature. Therefore, 100% of the project shall be built at the school district’s cost without State participation. State funds may not be available at the time this project is otherwise eligible to receive State school construction aid. The district is responsible for all costs incurred in connection with any borrowing done in anticipation of State school construction aid.

“Shall bonds of the Central Vermont Career Center School District in an amount not to exceed $149,000,000, be issued for the purpose of building a new technical center?”

Though the ballot language doesn’t specify a duration, the district has used 30 years as the payback period for the purposes of calculating town-specific estimated tax increases that would accompany approval of the bond.

According to those estimates, the average increase in the tax bill on a home assessed at $300,000 would be roughly $300, or 5.74%. The estimated increases range from a low of $99 in Cabot to a high of $420 in East Montpelier. Property tax increases for towns in the Harwood district for the same home value range from $149.10 for Moretown to $294.90 for Warren; Waterbury’s increase is estimated at $273, and Duxbury’s at $241.80.

Projected tax impacts*of bond by town

*Tax impact estimates are good faith estimates using FY26 data based on a home assessed at $300,000. Source: Central Vermont Career Center (cvtcc.org)

Board Chair Alice Farrell said initial “sticker shock” associated with those estimates had begun to fade and, she believes, people were starting to focus on the “value-added of career (technical) education.”

The board hopes that translates into a favorable vote on a day when, in most towns, the bond issue for the career center is the only thing on the ballot.

It is one, Farrell said, that is worthy of voters’ support.

“It’s a great opportunity for our kids, and for our communities,” she said, of plans to construct a new 167,000-square-foot center — complete with its own multi-million-dollar gymnasium.

The gym is needed to offer full-day programming for up to 500 students. That would more than double the center’s current capacity, allowing it to serve more students and negating the need for them to travel between the center and their sending high schools.

The board was sold on retaining the gym before members of the Washington Central School Board approved a resolution backing that decision last week, and it was reflected in Monday night’s vote.

The board approved the warning for the special election, on a night when a labor union offered its strings-attached support, members were introduced to Nick Charyk, the political and communications consultant who has been retained to manage outreach efforts, involving a bond that some worried may not enjoy the support of some lawmakers.

Larry Moquin, president of the Vermont AFL-CIO, said the union would enthusiastically back a project it believes in if the board would sign a memorandum of understanding committing to relying exclusively on union labor to complete construction of the new facility.

Moquin said the union has 4,500 members in Washington County, which largely mirrors the area served by CVCC.

Board members didn’t publicly discuss agreeing to Moquin’s terms, but they didn’t rule it out, either.

The board did briefly discuss the need to respond to the perception that some lawmakers may be opposed to the project, and some targeted outreach might be helpful.

It shouldn’t be necessary, according to board member Guy Isabelle, who said his message to lawmakers would be clear.

“We not only want your support, but you guys have been talking about this … for quite a while. Here’s your chance,” he said, adding: “If not now, when?”

The board has decided the answer is in November — a decision, some have publicly said, leaves the door open to bringing back a scaled-down version of the center in March if the bond is rejected.

At a time when enrollment is on the decline at all of its sending high schools, some more perceptibly than others, CVCC’s expansion plans are rooted in a desire to serve more students and respond to consistent complaints about workforce shortages.

That is at the heart of the just-launched campaign that Charyk will quarterback for the next eight weeks.

Lawn signs are starting to crop up, and Emerson said she recorded her first interview with one of the center’s alumni earlier in the day, had another scheduled for Tuesday, and a third in the works.

Those videos will be part of a social media campaign designed to underscore the value of career technical education and its impact on former students of the center.

There will be one public forum prior to the vote. It is scheduled to be held at the career center on Tuesday, Oct. 7, at 6 p.m., with a link to join online. More information about the project is online on the Central Vermont Career Center website. 

This story was originally published by The Times Argus on Sept. 9. See earlier coverage here.