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Germantown to require reapplication for future tuition‑waiver students under open‑enrollment revisions
Summary
The policy committee recommended changes to policy 51.13 to require future tuition‑waiver students who move out of the district to apply through Wisconsin's open‑enrollment portal beginning in 2026‑27; current nonresident tuition‑waiver students are permitted to 'age out' through graduation.
The Germantown School District's policy committee on Jan. 13 recommended that the full board approve revisions to policy 51.13 clarifying how nonresident tuition‑waiver students are treated under the district's open‑enrollment rules.
Dr. Reuter, presenting the changes alongside open‑enrollment coordinator Melissa Timmerman, said the packet adds explicit language that "beginning in the 2026‑27 school year anyone who applies via tuition waiver ... would then have to reapply through the open enrollment process" used by other nonresident students. The change responds to cases in which students who began the year as district residents subsequently moved out and continued enrollment via a tuition waiver, which administration says has produced roughly 80 nonresident students district‑wide.
Administration told the committee legal counsel drafted the recommended language to clarify when a tuition waiver lets a student finish a school year and when the more formal state open‑enrollment application must be used. Dr. Reuter said, "we're asking that anyone that is currently a student on tuition waiver and became an open enrollment student will continue and age out whether they move out or graduate," but that new starts after 2026‑27 would follow the portal process.
Board members asked how the transition would affect families and how the district balances resident seats and nonresident requests. Administration said the packet also expands the policy's termination language (grounds on which an open‑enrollment seat can be lost) so that families know the state criteria that apply.
The committee moved the revisions forward with a positive recommendation to the full board; the packet will appear for board action at the next meeting.
What happens next: The full board will consider the recommended edits; administration said it will also present the list of currently enrolled tuition‑waiver students for routine approval at the upcoming board meeting. Any family affected by a change beginning in 2026‑27 would apply through the state open‑enrollment portal under the revised language.
