ROCHESTER, Vt. (WCAX) – A key Vermont legislative panel on Monday will publish ideas for education cost containment in the face of skyrocketing property taxes. Over the years, closing the state’s smallest schools has often been considered an easy target to contain costs. Reporter Calvin Cutler checked in on the vitality of one community that recently lost their school.
Hancock resident Erica Combs remembers a time when the White River Valley town of Rochester was bustling.
Reporter Calvin Cutler: What was it like growing up here?
Erica Combs: It was fun, there were a lot of kids, a lot of businesses.
She says young families sent their kids to school while their parents worked at the now-shuttered mill up the road in Hancock.
But six years ago, Rochester’s high school was one of the schools on the chopping block as a result of Act 46, an effort to consolidate and merge districts to reduce costs. By that time, just a handful of students graduated annually and the school was no longer financially sustainable. “It’s been really quiet since the school closed down,” Combs said.
Students now make the trip to other schools in Woodstock, Randolph, or Middlebury.
“We like lemonade in Rochester, and we were handed a big lemon, and we’re looking to make some lemonade out of it,” said Rochester Selectboard Chair Doon Hinderyckx. He says Rochester has been working hard to reinvent itself and keep small businesses in town.
Rochester is made up of big swaths of state and federal land and has become a national destination for backcountry biking, hiking, and skiing along the Adventure Cycling Association’s Northern Tier route. Many visitors stay at the new inn downtown on Route 100. “Rochester is all of a sudden becoming more of a destination for recreation-minded people,” Hinderyckx said.
Thanks to a $2 million federal grant from Senator Bernie Sanders, Rochester is beginning the process of converting the old high school into a senior care or child care facility, so the school still stays a community hub in town.
Shifting political winds in Montpelier following a huge spike in property taxes have fueled calls for big changes to how the state funds and delivers education.
A legislative task force next week will issue preliminary ideas for cost containment, including teacher healthcare, spending caps, and more consolidations or closures.
Despite Rochester’s sacrifices, their property taxes are still going up by double digits. Some residents, worried they will become part of a vanishing Vermont, say something needs to change.