Board approves 160 open-enrollment seats, 225 virtual seats and student travel to Orlando

The West Allis–West Milwaukee School Board voted to approve district requests to open new open-enrollment seats for the 2026–27 school year and to permit an extended student trip.

District staff presented open-enrollment projections and explained differences with neighboring New Berlin: that district uses a guaranteed-enrollment model (siblings of previously approved tuition-waiver students can return) but has not opened new seats recently. The district reported that, at present, most schools have under 8% of students on open enrollment; the Deeper Learning Virtual Academy stands at about 16%.

The board approved a request for 160 new regular-education open-enrollment seats (the administration said this number includes the first 35 tuition-waiver seats requested in each cohort) and separately approved 225 deeper-learning virtual seats for grades 6–12. Administration noted both requests list 0 special-education seats because of capacity limits.

Board members motioned and seconded the combined 11.1 and 11.2 action and voted in favor; the motion passed.

Separately, the board approved item 11.3, an extended-travel request for the Central High School Poms team to travel to Orlando, Florida in February 2026. The administration said expenses matched the Nathan Hale Poms trip approved earlier, and the motion passed after a second and an ‘‘Aye’’ vote recorded by the president.

The approvals were procedural votes; trustees asked clarifying questions during presentations but did not attach conditions to the approvals. Staff indicated follow-up information about seat counts and placements will be available as schedules are developed in the spring.