The football field at the grade 9-12 Rice Memorial High School in South Burlington. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDigger Supporters wanting to save the Vermont Roman Catholic Diocese’s flagship Rice Memorial High School from potential liquidation in the church’s ongoing Chapter 11 financial re organization case have upped their offer from $4.3 million to $5.9 million. The state’s largest religious denomination asked a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge this summer for permission to privately offer the grade 9-12 South Burlington campus to the new nonprofit entity RMHS Inc., whose principal officers are the nine members of the Rice School Board. But a creditors’ committee representing more than 100 people who have filed clergy abuse claims against the diocese contested the plan’s initial price tag — spurring all sides to hold mediation talks this fall and supporters to raise their bid. “The diocese has discussed the purchaser’s offer with the official committee,” church lawyers have written in court papers filed this month in advance of a scheduled Nov. 20 hearing on the issue. “The committee consents to the proposed sale.” READ MORE An attorney for the creditors’ committee confirmed that consent to VTDigger, although the group has yet to formally affirm its approval in a court filing. Any sale during the Chapter 11 process also requires a judge’s sign-off. That could come just weeks before the diocese is set to ask to withdraw its financial reorganization case at a Dec. 8 hearing, although an affirmative ruling on the latter request isn’t guaranteed and could take time. The diocese asked the bankruptcy court for help in the fall of 2024, saying a past series of nearly 70 priest misconduct settlements had reduced its bank-and-building holdings by half — to about $35 million — with more than 100 other abuse claims dating as far back as 1950 yet to be resolved. As part of the process, the church asked the court in July for approval to sell Rice’s 42-classroom building and surrounding 27 acres to a group of unnamed “dedicated donors.” Supporters said their initial $4.3 million offer came after White + Burke Real Estate Advisors of Burlington issued a seven-page estimate of the school’s market value at between $4 million and $6 million. In response, the creditors’ committee questioned why the proposed price wasn’t closer to a more comprehensive 31-page church-commissioned appraisal by Champlain Valley Appraisal Services of Waterbury that valued the campus at $30.5 million. Abuse claimants called for higher bids in hopes of raising more money for settlements. Rice began in 1917 as Cathedral High School in downtown Burlington before moving to a new name and its current South Burlington location in 1959, according to its online history. The 400-student Rice campus is one of three Catholic high schools in Vermont, alongside Mount St. Joseph Academy in Rutland and St. Michael School in Brattleboro. The diocese hasn’t announced any plans for the latter two institutions or its 10 schools for elementary and middle grades. Read the story on VTDigger here: Supporters raise offer for Rice Memorial High in hopes of spurring court approval of sale. ...read more read less