The former University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee at Washington County campus in West Bend may become the new home of a private Christian school.
At a joint meeting between the Washington County Executive Committee and the West Bend City Council on Monday, the county’s executive committee unanimously voted to recommend negotiations to sell the former UWM campus to
Ozaukee Christian School.
The former UWM-Washington County campus includes a 198,000-square-foot building and 80-acre property. The county has stewarded the campus since July 1, 2024, following UWM’s departure. Declining enrollment pushed UWM to close the campus.
In February, Washington County Executive
Josh Schoemann established a task force to help determine how to proceed with the site, which had served as a two-year campus offering general education courses.
The task force received proposals from Ozaukee Christian School and
Cedar Lakes Conservation Foundation — which both already have a local presence — as well as Accel Learning, a national charter school. A nature-based charter school option was also proposed.
The school districts of Washington County, including the West Bend School District, Germantown School District, Hartford Union High School District, Kewaskum School District and Slinger School District, had also discussed collaboratively using the campus space.
Ozaukee Christian School and CLCF have proposed sharing the campus, with Ozaukee Christian School offering $3 million for the building and up to 27 acres of surrounding land, according to county documents.
“I am pleased the county Executive Committee voted unanimously to proceed with negotiating the sale of our abandoned campus to Ozaukee Christian School and a portion of the adjoining land to Cedar Lakes Conservation Foundation,” Schoemann said in a statement. “After more than a year of receiving proposals and our task force reviewing these submissions, we learned there were really only a few viable options.”
Ozaukee Christian School serves children in grades K3-8 and currently operates in Trenton, with over two-thirds of its student body coming from Washington County. Its current 22,000-square-foot facility is “bursting at the seams,” and its limited space prevents the school from introducing new programming, according to Ozaukee Christian School’s proposal letter to the county.
To address the school’s continued growth, Ozaukee Christian School “will be required to search for off campus space as we have run out of classroom space,” the proposal reads.
Ozaukee Christian School would use part of the UWM-WC campus to launch a high school in the fall of 2026 and move its operations from its Trenton location to the campus over several years.
“With the purchase of the UWM-WC Campus, we believe that we can launch high school next fall; our entire K-12 program could be together in one building; we would have the ability to offer additional educational, athletic and other extracurricular activities; and we can better serve the West Bend community through strong local partnerships,” Ozaukee Christian School said in the proposal.
CLCF looks to acquire about 60 of the remaining acres for $300,000. This would include the fen and land surrounding the buildings, according to CLCF’s proposal.
Washington County is also set to receive $2 million from the state to support the campus’s redevelopment.
