The WLC will need to have its amended $16 million budget approved. (Photo by billiondigital/Depositphotos)
The Wilmington Learning Collaborative is making the final touches to its nearly $16 million budget for this 2024-2025 school year.
After already getting the budget approved, the group voted for amendments Tuesday night in three line items: expanded learning time, professional development and school leader recruitment and retention.
Funds were decreased in the first two buckets and moved to school leader recruitment and retention, which had no allocations in the original budget.
Created in November 2022, the Wilmington Learning Collaborative aims to improve the educational and societal outcomes for children in nine city of Wilmington elementary schools across Brandywine, Red Clay and Christina school districts.
The group will have to get the amended budget approved by all three district school boards.
WLC’s budget
The largest chunk of funding is for the education leadership team innovation fund, totaling $4.6 million.
RELATED: WLC leader details initial work, school reports
The educator leader teams at all nine schools – which is a core team of educators that are charged with supporting and creating a space where decisions can be made for school-based change initiatives – drafted proposals.
Each had to deal with a specific school outcome and a creative plan on improving that outcome.
Executive Director Laura Burgos has said the WLC encouraged the leadership teams to take risks and be bold in their innovation ideas.
Expanded learning time – which could be wraparound services like bolstering before- and after-school programs, is the second largest budget item at $2,456,000.
Professional development rounds out the third highest allocation at $1.8 million.
About $4.3 million is allocated to operational costs, which include salaries for those on the Wilmington Learning Collaborative, renting meeting spaces and more.
Although it’s the smallest budget allocation, family advocacy and engagement will have a fund of $90,000.
This is important because one of the foundational aspects of the collaborative is giving community members like parents and caregivers a seat at the decision-making table, as evident by the three parent representatives on the governing board.
Here’s the collaborative’s full proposed budget for fiscal year 2025:
WLC’s amended budget proposal for fiscal year 2025.
Raised in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, Jarek earned a B.A. in journalism and a B.A. in political science from Temple University in 2021. After running CNN’s Michael Smerconish’s YouTube channel, Jarek became a reporter for the Bucks County Herald before joining Delaware LIVE News.
Jarek can be reached by email at [email protected] or by phone at (215) 450-9982. Follow him on Twitter @jarekrutz
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