UPDATE: Voters turn down CVCC bond
November 6, 2025 | By Waterbury Roundabout Click to enlarge.
Votes from the 18 municipalities of the Central Vermont Career Center School District were tallied in Barre on Thursday with the result a resounding rejection of the proposed $149 million construction bond to build a modern career and technical training school.
School district Clerk Tina Lunt certified the vote with 5,751 voting no and 3,873 voting yes. The split works out to 60% opposed to 40% in favor. Votes from all of the communities in the district are comingled for one overall tally. Results are not reported by town.
The CVCC School District School Board’s Facilities Committee meets tonight at 5-6:30 p.m. The bond vote and next steps are on the agenda. Agenda with remote video link and call-in details is here.
District Superintendent and Career Center Director Jody Emerson shared the following message with the community on Thursday afternoon:
Thank you to everyone who cast a ballot on Tuesday. We have repeatedly heard that there is support for Career and Technical Education (CTE) and know that uncertainty in the future of education governance and funding in Vermont, and concerns about taxes contributed to this outcome. Over 9600 ballots were cast, just 1100 fewer than our town meeting day input. There were 5751 votes against and 3873 votes for the bond; therefore, the bond did not pass.
To our students, this vote reflects community concerns about the cost of living and the future of education in Vermont, not about you. Every one of you is an important member of not only our Central Vermont Career Center (CVCC) community, but Central Vermont, and you matter. We have heard your interest and excitement about this potential new school, and we promise to continue working to expand programming and provide you with the best education at CVCC. The skills you are developing today will serve you and Central Vermont well in the future.
Our Central Vermont Career Center School District (CVCCSD) Facilities Committee is meeting tonight to determine next steps. They will consider another vote opportunity in March, await the outcome of redistricting, or explore other options during that meeting. Ultimately, our board will decide on Monday evening how to move forward to provide more access to CTE for Central Vermont students. ~ Sincerely, Jody Emerson
Results of $149 million CVCC bond vote coming soon
November 5, 2025 | By David Delcore | Times Argus staff writer This story was published online at TimesArgus.com on Nov. 5.
BARRE — What they said will remain a mystery until the last of the ballots are tabulated Thursday afternoon, but voters in the 18-town Central Vermont Career Center School District have spoken with respect to a $149 million bond, which, if approved, would finance construction of a standalone, state-of-the-art center in a corner of Barre Town.
The magic number is 4,816.
During Tuesday’s special election, 9,631 ballots were cast across a district that includes 18 towns in six other districts. Unless at least 4,816 voters support the proposed bond, it won’t pass.
None of the ballots has been counted, though 4,899 of them — those cast by voters in Barre, Barre Town, Montpelier, and Waterbury — have been fed into separate tabulators that will be transported to Alumni Hall in Barre City, where the balance of the ballots will be brought on Thursday.
The commingling process will determine whether the bond was approved or not, but not how individual towns — or school districts — voted.
The process will start at 9 a.m. Thursday when the first batch of ballots — those cast by voters in Middlesex and Worcester — are fed into one of the four tabulators. It should conclude by early afternoon after the last of the ballots — those cast in Duxbury and Moretown — are processed.
Well over half — 2,794 — of the ballots that have already been processed but not yet counted, were cast in the two-town Barre Unified Union School District.
In Barre, where voters separately approved two local bond issues on Tuesday, 1,208 ballots were cast, while another 1,586 were added to the mix by Barre Town, where the career center bond was the only reason to go to the polls.
The Barre district has been the forever home of the career center, which has been located in a wing of Spaulding High School since it opened in 1969. Pass, or fail, it will be the future home as well. Plans contemplate constructing a new 167,000 square foot center in Graniteville, which is in Barre Town.
Turnout in the Montpelier Roxbury Public School District was comparatively muted.
While the 1,546 ballots cast in Montpelier on Tuesday was second only to Barre Town, it lagged well behind a typical Town Meeting Day, which generally attracts roughly 2,500 voters.
There were 101 votes cast in Roxbury, bringing the total in the two-town district to 1,647.
Three other districts, including Barre’s, had higher vote totals.
A total of 2,184 ballots were cast on the career center bond in the six-town Harwood Unified Union School District, where turnout ranged from a low of 210 in Duxbury to a high of 559 in Waterbury.
Warren was a close second with 537 ballots cast, followed by Waitsfield (372), Fayston (262), and Moretown (244).
Warren’s comparatively higher turnout was partly due to a local bond, which, like the two in Barre, passed. Voters agreed to invest up to $10 million in the construction of a new town garage, 324-211.
East Montpelier paced its partners in the Washington Central Unified Union School District with 563 ballots cast on the career center bond. Berlin, which rejected a local bond for a recreation center, chipped in 506 votes, followed by Middlesex (446), Calais (326), and Worcester (201).
The total votes cast across the five Washington Central towns was 2,042.
The Twinfield Union School District was responsible for 706 of the ballots that will be counted on Thursday. Most — 537 — of them were cast in Plainfield, where a local bond was defeated. The balance — 168 — were cast in Marshfield.
Then there was Cabot. The smallest of the six districts that tuition students to the Barre-based career center, Cabot was responsible for 258 of the ballots cast on the CVCC bond. They also authorized the use of $250,000 from the town’s community investment fund to advance a series of flood-resiliency projects.
CVCC officials are awaiting the results of the bond vote, and members of the district’s facilities committee are scheduled to meet at 5 p.m. to discuss how to proceed hours after learning the results.