Jacob Wright was first appointed to the Alleghany County Public School Board on July 1, 2013 and served as vice chair from 2019-2020. In July 2020, Wright was named chair of the school board.

In 2022, Wright was appointed by the Alleghany County Board of Supervisors to the Alleghany Highlands School Board. Alleghany Highlands Public Schools was created in July 1, 2022, from a merger of Alleghany Public Schools, Covington City Public Schools, and Jackson River Technical Center. On July 1, 2022 he was named the first-ever board chair of the joint school division.

Wright was highly instrumental in the development of an agreement that led to the creation of the consolidated school division. He was co- chairman of the Joint School Services Committee, which included representation from the Alleghany County School Board, the Covington City School Board, the Alleghany County Board of Supervisors, and Covington City Council. The merger agreement developed by the committee was approved by the four local governing bodies in September 2020 and the Virginia Board of Education in January 2021.