Original Research by School Decision on Lincoln Town School District
Lincoln Town School District is a small, independent pre-kindergarten through grade twelve district in Addison County, Vermont. It operates a single school, Lincoln Community School, for students in the early grades through grade six, while students in grades seven through twelve participate in a school choice and tuition program.
The district's enrollment is small. Most students are concentrated in the elementary grades at Lincoln Community School, with only a handful in the upper grades. This reflects the structure of the district's program rather than attrition: once students reach seventh grade, they move into the choice system rather than attending a Lincoln-operated secondary school. The student population is almost entirely white, with only a few students from other racial or ethnic backgrounds. Data on free or reduced-price lunch eligibility, special education enrollment, and English learner status was not available, so we cannot characterize the district on those dimensions.
The district's recent history is central to understanding what it is today. In May 2022, the Vermont State Board of Education approved Lincoln's withdrawal from the Mount Abraham Unified School District, reconstituting it as its own independent district. Full operations began in July 2023. This move was driven by concerns that Act 46 consolidation had eroded local control over spending, curriculum, and scheduling, and it was accelerated by a proposal to close Lincoln Community School. Residents sought withdrawal to restore that local authority, and the result is a district that now governs its own budget and educational decisions.
For families, the most consequential feature is the secondary school choice program. Students in kindergarten through grade six attend Lincoln Community School. For grades seven through twelve, families can choose any public school or approved independent school, with tuition paid by the district. The district provides transportation to the nearest middle and high school, which is in the Mount Abraham system, but families selecting other schools must arrange their own transportation. This gives parents considerable control over where their children attend middle and high school. A recent change in state law, Act 73, restricts new enrollments in approved independent schools using public tuition, which narrows some of the options previously available. Schools like Rice Memorial High School, Lake Champlain Waldorf School, and Pond Brook School are named in public reporting as examples of independent schools affected by this restriction.
State assessment data was not available for this district, so we cannot characterize academic performance on standardized tests. No graduation rate was reported, which is consistent with the district's structure: Lincoln does not operate a high school, and its high school students attend other institutions. Chronic absenteeism data and per-pupil spending figures were also missing. In the comparison set among Addison County's districts, no metrics were available for this entity, so there is no basis to position Lincoln relative to its neighbors on academic or financial measures.
The housing market context comes from the area's zip code, which maps to Bristol. Home values in this area sit above both the state and national benchmarks, and the price-to-income ratio is near five, which suggests that purchasing a home here requires a relatively strong household income. Home values have appreciated modestly over the past year.
What this district offers is a small, locally controlled elementary school experience with a tight-knit community and a distinctive approach to secondary education through tuition-funded choice. The trade-off is that academic performance data is absent from what was available, and the choice program, while flexible, comes with transportation logistics for families who look beyond the nearest option. Parents considering the district may want to ask directly about how the choice program works in practice, which schools current students are attending, and what supports are in place for the transition from Lincoln Community School to secondary placement.
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