LA CROSSE, Wis. -- Open Enrollment starts in just a few days in Wisconsin. It's a program that allows families who live in one district to send their child to a school in another district. Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill Wednesday expanding the open enrollment period from three weeks to three months, giving parents plenty of time to make a decision.

But that's leaving schools of all kinds, including virtual schools, waiting longer to start planning for the next school year.

Jeff LeMahieu is the Dean of Students for Wisconsin Connections Academy, a public virtual charter school based in Appleton. When he first scheduled a Thurdsday-night informational meeting for parents in Sparta, he thought he was going to have to worry about them missing a three-week open enrollment period.

"They would call me in March, April, May, June and say, 'We'd like to sign up for next year.' And if they weren't living in the Appleton area school district, they could not come the following year. I'd have to say, 'Wait until next February and you'll be able to come in two years,'" said LeMahieu.

Now that the window for open enrollent has been expanded through April, families will have more time to make up their minds. But that also means schools will have less time to plan for the following year.

"The deadline is helpful for planning for next year. How many teachers do we need? How many students are we going to have? What is our budget going to look like?" said LeMahieu.

It's a concern shared by Janet Rosseter, the Executive Director of Business Services at La Crosse Public Schools.

"The reality is, is we need to begin working on budget well in advance of when these timelines are. So what it does is it just kind of leaves us in a limbo period for a little bit longer period of time," said Rosseter.

Another concern? Parents might procrastinate making a decision and miss the deadline anyway.

"The one drawback that might happen is that with that longer window, if a parent puts it off and then they forget about applying for open enrollment, the deadlines on it are very strict. If you miss the open enrollment period, you have lost your chance for open enrollment for that year," said Rosseter.

Open enrollment starts Monday, Feb. 6 and continues through April 30. Parents can apply to up to three neighboring school districts.