In the long run you probably want to buy a
house system, but a month isn't nearly enough time to scrape that kind of money together so you may be better off renting for now. You're insurance company really should take care of it, public school or now, but my experience with the bureaucratic processes of schools is that they tend to be painfully slow, and that's
before you rope an insurance claim into it.
You have to be a little more specific as to what your needs are; when I think high school musicals I usually expect no more than 20 wireless mic's w/ headsets, maybe 3-4
orchestra mic's, so around the 24 or 32
channel range.
On top of that you'll have to account for any
house speakers/
stage monitors you want. If you're going with a live
orchestra then you might need a couple monitors on
stage and a single
monitor carrying only vocals for the band director to use.
Given the price tag you'll drown in just for the wireless mic rentals, it's best if you arrange to have them for the least amount of time; so enough time before
hand that whoever ops, students or adults, has worked some rehearsals, but also make sure that equipment is returned the day after the final show. The other equipment (
power amps, speakers, mixers), shouldn't be too costly in comparison for the mic's. I would advise you make a few phone calls, see if you can find a rental company that will cut you a special deal with consideration to your circumstances and the fact you're with a school. (If you do find somebody that treats you well, certainly don't forget about their business in the future)
I don't know how you're school does budgeting for shows; most I work with take rental expenses from the show's budget, not from a school's general fund. HOWEVER, it would be worth your time to see if you could work something out where the school helped to
pick up the
tab.
I was doing a large Madrigal dinner that was at a local high school this past year; in the school's recent electrical upgrade our
power feed had been removed. The price for bringing in an adequate
power feed was about $1300 and nobody was in agreeance at first to who would
foot the bill; be it the show or the buildings and grounds crew. A quick talk with the principal surprised me and he
flat out gave me all of the money I needed and we got our feed in about two days before curtain. (We would've been a little more prepared but the school district's electrician failed to mention that they were not footing the bill on this one, and so plans made two months in
advance rolled past until a week and half from the show when we had to start asking questions why nothing had been done yet)
My
point is, school administrators usually have some funds available for miscellaneous expenses during the year; you should check to see if anything can be done to at least
ease the cost of your rentals.