Vertical Text Alignment of Continuous Section in Word 2013.

You have set up the page correctly, but it's not working as you think it would. If it's any consolation, this feature has never worked this way with previous versions of Word, so it's not quite a bug.

Your idea of tables will work. Alternative methods that could also work include using a text box at the bottom of the page or putting the bottom text into the footer (assuming it repeats on every page).

Another variant on the table idea is to create a separate table for the bottom of the page, then use TABLE TOOLS>LAYOUT>Properties, change Text Wrapping to Around, click on Positioning and set Horizontal to about 0.5" relative to Page and Vertical about 9" relative to Page. This creates a floating table at the bottom. Text will wrap around it to the next page.

As you have noticed, Vertical Alignment doesn't appear to work with continuous sections. My guess is that this is because the alignment applies to all content on a page, including the continuous section breaks...

Actually, the feature has limitations even if there are no continuous breaks. For example, "Justified" alignment applies even to the last page of a section. Imagine a section whose last page contains just one single (say) two-line paragraph. With "Justified" selected in the Vertical Alignment drop down, Word will display the first line at the top of the page and the second line at the bottom. It's hardly desirable.