Principal's View: Budget

As a charter school in Madison, Wright receives no more or no less money than do other middle schools in Madison. Accordingly, the budgeting process looks similar to other middle schools. When the school opened at its current location there was a limited amount of local bond money earmarked towards getting the school underway.

The biggest difference at Wright has been the ability of the school to tap into external funding sources, namely the Department of Public Instructions Charter School Grant Programs. Look at each of the four grants Wright Middle School received from the Department of Public Instruction.

Ed Holmes, principal at Wright speaks to how the budget is used to meet special staffing requirements:

JCW has a RISE (Resources Integrated for Success & Equity) budget that is used for specific identified needs. Currently, the RISE budget supports one half of the full-time reading specialist allocation, two family-community liaison positions, and .1 of the school nurse allocation. Regular school budget devoted to a full-time academic position is being used to supply the technology position, as per school mission.

RISE money is used to support minority student needs such as reading, family assistance/transportation, health and nutrition, and increase minority student achievement. The remainder of the school's allocations is pretty traditional - music, art, technology, foreign language (Spanish), physical education, science, social studies, math, language arts, and reading. These allocations are designed to meet state mandates.