The management of the Montpelier public schools is vested in a Board of School Commissioners, which appoints a superintendent. According to the superintendent, test scores of public school students in Montpelier are above state and national norms, and 80 percent of high school graduates go on to college. Each school building is supplemented by an Educational Support Team that assists with academic remediation, behavioral support, and motor and language development. Preschool special education and at-home or daycare education is coordinated through the Essential Early Education System.
The following is a summary of data regarding the Montpelier public schools as of the 2004–2005 school year.
Total enrollment: 1,077
Number of facilities
elementary schools: 1
middle schools: 1
high schools: 1
Student/teacher ratio: 18:1
Teacher salaries
average: $38,636
Funding per pupil: $9,353
Public Schools Information: Superintendent of Schools, Montpelier School District, 58 Barre Street, Montpelier, VT 05602; telephone (802)223-9796
Montpelier is home to Vermont College, which offers a full range of undergraduate majors, coeducational military lifestyle at the Northfield Campus, nationally renowned adult degree and creative writing programs, a nursing program, and the state's only school of architecture at its 35 acre Montpelier campus. In 2001 the 1,000-student Vermont College was acquired by Union Institute and University, which also maintains a campus in Brattleboro, Vermont. The Community College of Vermont is also located on the Vermont College campus and offers associate degrees and other educational services to approximately 900 students annually. Norwich University's adult degree program is also operated from Vermont College. The New England Culinary Institute, with 400 students, offers an Associate's degree in Occupational Studies and a Bachelor's degree in Service and Management. The school occupies a four-acre Main Street campus. In addition to the main campus, the school owns and operates the Chef's Table and the Main Street Bar & Grill restaurants and the La Brioche Bakery & Cafe downtown. In 2004 the New England Culinary Institute was named Best Cooking School by the International Association of Culinary Professionals. Woodbury College, which offers programs in mediation, paralegal studies, prevention and community development, and psychology is also located in Montpelier. More than half of the seventeen colleges in the Vermont Consortium of Colleges are within 90 minutes of the city.
The Kellogg-Hubbard Library, privately endowed in 1894, houses a collection of more than 69,000 items in its Adult Library; its Children's Room offers a collection for ages up to 14.
The Vermont Historical Society Library in nearby Barre holds more than 50,000 volumes on Vermont history, Vermontiana, and New England history and genealogy, as well as photographs and maps. The library's manuscript collection offers letters, diaries, business records, and personal papers documenting the lives of ordinary Vermonters, including a special Civil War collection and documents tracing Vermont's history with the underground railroad. The Historical Society also maintains a museum in Montpelier.
The State of Vermont Department of Libraries has extensive microfiche and software as well as 220,000 volumes on current state and federal statutory law. The Nature Conservancy of Vermont conducts research on rare plants and animals.
Public Library Information: Kellogg-Hubbard Library, 135 Main St., Montpelier, VT 05602; telephone (802)223-3338; fax (802)223-3338; email kellogg–hubb@dol.state.vt.us