Original Research by School Decision on Bacon Academy
Bacon Academy is the sole high school serving Colchester, a residential bedroom suburb in southeastern Connecticut anchored by a town green and a mix of small businesses, farms and manufacturers. The school sits on a small to mid-sized campus at the eastern edge of the town center along Norwich Avenue, less than a mile from the historic downtown.
The student body is nearly uniformly white, with a modest share of Hispanic, multiracial, and Asian students, and includes a substantial share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on special education enrollment and English learners was not available. The school serves roughly equal numbers in each of the four high school grades.
On state testing in 2024-25, proficiency in English language arts reached about three-fifths of students, while proficiency in mathematics sat at roughly mid-range and science proficiency ran a few percentage points higher. A four-year graduation rate and a chronic absenteeism rate were not available in the data reported; a parent may want to ask the school directly about these outcomes.
The district made a significant programmatic change when the Board of Education approved a magnet school program called the Hayward Academy for Public Service beginning in the 2024-25 school year. This is structured as a school within a school at Bacon Academy, offering electives in fire services, medical, criminal justice and forensics, education, and national security while students continue in regular Bacon Academy courses. The program draws students from outside Colchester as part of an interdistrict magnet arrangement; state requirements specify that a portion of enrollment must come from Hartford to comply with desegregation statute. The state declined to enroll magnet students for the 2025-26 school year and required a final decision by spring 2025, so families should confirm the current status of the program with the school.
Colchester itself is experiencing modest residential growth guided by its Plan of Conservation and Development, with new housing construction rising since 2020 after decades of minimal building. The town's approach favors compact, walkable mixed-use growth near the town center while using conservation subdivisions to preserve rural character. Housing values have been climbing and sit above the state average; the typical mortgage estimate reflects the current rate environment. The town center around the green is genuinely walkable for local errands and dining, but beyond that core the town is car-oriented.
The district faces sustained property-tax and budget strain. In May 2026, voters rejected both the town and school budgets by a significant margin in a referendum with historically high turnout, signaling strong property-tax affordability concerns. Even after the Board of Education budget proposal was cut and fund balance was applied, it still represented a mill rate increase of over two mills. School budgets have passed by razor-thin margins in recent years, including a June 2024 referendum that passed by just three votes and triggered a mandated recount. This instability reflects a widening gap between rising education costs and mostly stagnant state aid. A family considering relocating to Colchester should ask the district about its current budget status and longer-term funding trajectory.
The school's website did not yield detailed information about program breadth, course offerings, or staffing beyond the publicly reported certified staff count. Course options, AP availability, career pathways, or other specialized programming would be worth asking about directly.
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