I live in Montpelier, VT and I *love* it as a place to raise kids.
$450k would get you a very, very nice move-in-ready house, either right in town with a nice private yard, or just outside of town with a couple acres of land.
I've got kids who are 8 and 12 and we've found the elementary and middle schools to be truly outstanding (and, if you're into that sort of thing, it's very easy to find a home within walking distance of both, and both are in walking distance of our stellar public library and very nice compact downtown). On greatschools the elementary and middle are 8, and the HS is 9.
Beyond loving the schools, I really value that it's a town small enough that I feel very safe having the 12-year old roam around town on his own. He goes to the pool, the library, college-league baseball games, friends' houses, downtown, all within an easy, safe, 1-mile bike ride of our house. The 8-year-old isn't quite ready but she walks to school and the library (each a couple blocks) and some friends' houses on her own. I think it's really valuable for them, and it makes for a relatively low-stress parenting experience.
And although the town has a population of only ~7,000, it's the seat of state government, so it feels a bit bigger than that culturally. And Burlington (~250,000-person metro area) is an easy 40-minute highway drive away. Montreal's about two hours.
One warning about Montpelier in particular and VT in general: property taxes are quite high. I pay ~$6,000/year on a $310,000 house. And of course utility costs tend to be high. On the other hand, it's otherwise an easy place to be mustachian, because the general social vibe is just kinda that way. :-)