Families and students in DeWitt County will have another public high school option, starting in the 2025-26 school year. Westhoff ISD is launching its Academy for Careers and College with a 9th grade class in the fall and adding a new grade each year.
“We have dreams to grow to a high school with an ag program and FFA,” Superintendent Darrin Stansberry said, “basically all the things that a high school would have, but it's a step-by-step process.”
He said that 1A schools have a lot to offer with small class sizes.
“We’re an A rated school, and it's really neat to see pre-K all the way up. The teachers know all the kids,” Stansberry said. “That's something special that you don't get at a bigger school.”
Traditionally, Westhoff (as well as Meyersville and Nursery) middle school graduates could automatically transfer to Cuero High School. In 2024, Cuero ISD said its legal consultants advised against continuing the automatic acceptance policy.
“I don't know if that's said about any of our Westhoff kids, but it could happen where they deny a transfer,” Stansberry said. “We're going to take care of our students and give options to help them out. And we want to help our neighbors, Myersville, and also any of the Nursery students that would like to head our way, definitely take them in and help them out if they want to stay in the small settings that we offer.”
In addition to Myersville and Nursery, WISD will welcome students from Cuero, Nixon-Smiley, Yorktown, Yoakum and Nordheim. Stansberry said they are also working with Vysehrad ISD to help students as a satellite campus.
The district continued a transportation agreement with Cuero ISD, so bus transport is available from/ to Cuero.
Stansberry said temporary modular buildings will be installed adjacent to the existing campus in July, and plans for a dedicated high school wing are under consideration. The district had two town hall meetings in May to answer questions from Westhoff residents.
As a recapture (Robin Hood) district, WISD hopes to reduce the portion of local property tax revenue redirected to the state by increasing student attendance. The strategy helps smaller districts retain more local funds and reinvest directly into educational staffing and programs.
“We don't want to get outside of that small student-teacher ratio,” Stansberry said. ”We want to keep Westhoff great like it is with our discipline and our old-fashioned values.”
This year’s freshman class will be the first graduating class of Westhoff Warriors in 2029.
Note: Cuero ISD accepts transfer student applications from all surrounding districts.
