Links
2011 Updates: VSB battles ongoing budget challenges
May 11: VSB speaks out on new downloaded Provincial costs, including insurance and carbon offset/reporting costs, after cutting another $8 million to balance its proposed budget for the the 2011-2012 school year. Read more
March 2011: VSB urges Premier-designate Christy Clark to listen to families as the Board joins others warning of another punishing round of cuts to services and programs for 2010-11 unless the Province boosts Education funding to match rising costs. Georgia Straight
- Link to VSB Preliminary 2011-2012 Budget Brief outlining funding challenges
Feb 17, 2011: VSB warns it will revisit school closures in a year-long comprehensive district review. Vancouver Sun
Take action:
- Get informed: See media stories at our News reports link for more detail about Vancouver’s budget cuts
- Contact your MLA to urge that the Provincial government fully fund all education costs. Help organize with other parents and public education supporters in your community to get as many people as possible to do the same. (See MLA Contacts)
- Start a letter campaign at your school, or join an existing one.
- Organize or attend an SOS rally with other parents, students and teachers.
- Show your support by joining our Facebook group: Stop BC Education Cuts!
2010 Archives
Fall 2010: The VSB held public hearings to consider the closure of five East Vancouver schools to help address its budget shortfall, but eventually abandoned its school closure plans in the face of a storm of public outrage. Vancouver Sun covered the reversal on Dec 5.
June 29: East Van parents rally with local MLAs to save 3 Collingwood schools facing possible closure. Rally coverage by News 1130
June 26: Vancouver parents hold town hall meeting on education
June 23: VSB approves $16 million in cuts, much of them to frontline student services for September 2010, and announces potential closure of up to 12 schools.
- Link to the final draft budget (Note: there was discussion of some last minute changes before final approval that may not be reflected here)
- Link to VSB school closure notification list
- List of VSB schools, with 2009 enrolment vs peak capacity.
- Link to news reports on the budget vote and school closure announcement
June 17: VSB parent groups bemoan cuts but strongly support trustees
At a public meeting held June 17 at Mount Pleasant School, more than 20 groups and individuals submitted briefs expressing concern about planned cuts for the 2010-11 school year, while expressing strong support for the VSB trustees advocacy against provincial underfunding and stressign the need to fully fund all core educational services. Read the full collection of budget briefs or download a copy of the DPAC brief from the Vancouver District Parent Advisory Council.
June 17: VSB submits draft budget to Minister, announces school closures coming
Proposed budget includes $17 million in cuts. The Board also confirmed it will be launching a process to consider closing up to 10 Vancouver elementary schools and annexes. Read the VSB submission and News reports
June 14: VSB accountants, Secretary Treasurer warn VSB trustees the Special Adviser’s proposals will create more costs & more cuts, not savings.
At a Board Committee meeting, they also challenged the SA’s budget estimate and advised the trustees that fiscal prudence, based on budget protocols used by boards across the province, requires cutting $17 million, not $11 million as the report suggested. Staff submitted a revised budget based on cuts totalling $17 million for next year. Under the staff proposal, almost all cuts proposed in April, except elementary band and strings, would go ahead.
Trustees from all three political parties agreed the Minister had put them in a Catch-22 – they have until Friday to decide whether to ignore professional advice on what is fiscally prudent or to ignore the Minister’s order that they must follow the Special Adviser’s advice to the letter. Parents and employee groups expressed frustration that the Ministry’s meddling had resolved nothing, just created more anxiety and confusion.
Read a news report on the meeting here, and the report from VSB’s own accountants challenging the Special Adviser’s findings here.
June 12: Vancouver DPAC statement says Special Adviser’s report does not avert cuts or address parents’ concerns.
June 10: Education Minister issues special directive ordering VSB to follow Special Adviser’s report to the letter & to submit a fully compliant draft budget to her for approval by June 18
June 8: Education Minister walks out of meeting with VSB trustees to discuss report, says no new money. Read more
June 4: Special Adviser’s report ignores budget challenges, hints at major provincial governance reforms
- Special Adviser’s report on the VSB Budget Crisis
- Vancouver DPAC responds to Special Adviser’s report
- Our Response to the SA’s report and Op Ed
- Our April 21 brief outlining flaws in the SA’s terms of reference
- Vancouver and provincial news reports
- VSB Chair responds to Special Adviser’s report
- VSB trustees comments on the Special Adviser’s report.
- Some letters to the editor: Here, here, here, here, here and here – take a moment to share your thoughts with local papers!
- Other views: CCPA Policy Note, columnist Paul Willcocks
June 2: VSB budget deficit grows by $2 million: The bad news was announced after an audit revealed problems in the records system for online learning. Read more
June 1: Students lead rally against education cuts: Parents, teachers, trustees, MLA join students to protest education cuts in Vancouver: Read more
May 20: 341 teachers laid off
341 Vancouver teachers receive layoff notices: Read more
May 17: Vancouver parents meeting
VPPE parents meet, agree to support June 1 rally & to plan town hall meeting in June: Read more
May 4: DPAC meets with Special Adviser to convey parent concerns
May 3: Students perform at VAG at Music Monday to save music education
Vancouver students showed fine musical form at event at the Vancouver Art Gallery Monday. Band and strings programs in Vancouver’s elementary schools won a temporary reprieve from the Board on April 29, but the programs, like others slated for cuts in Vancouver, are still on “Death Row” and will be cut unless new funding can be found by June. Read more in the Vancouver Courier.
April 29: VSB delays budget vote, rescues band programs
Trustees will delay a final budget vote planned for April 29 to await the report of the special adviser, but staff layoff notices will still go out May 1. Read more
Parents, students & teachers urged to attend VSB meeting at 7 pm, wearing black to express concern about provincial underfunding.
April 28″ Another VSB student group launches a campaign against cuts
Windermere Students have launched a Facebook group to protest cuts: Join here
An earlier Facebook group launched by Mini-school students now has almost 1,000 members: Join here
April 28: VSB stakeholders sign joint appeal to Minister
Representatives of all stakeholders in the Vancouver school district have come together to jointly sign an urgent appeal to the Education minister to resolve a provincial funding shortfall that will force Vancouver to make deep cuts to core services for students in the coming school year. Read the letter
April 26: VSB approves shorter school calendar
Trustees “reluctantly” approve cuts to school time to save an estimated $1.4 million. The mov is part of a much larger package to be approved April 29 to offset an $18.1 million provincial funding shortfall for 2010-11. For more, see News reports
April 22: Role of Special Adviser comes under fire
VSB Chair voices concern over Special Adviser’s role while Victoria board urges Minister to cancel Vancouver’s Special Adviser. For more, see News reports
April 20-21: VSB public meetings to hear input on proposed budget
Read the BC Education Coalition’s budget brief to the VSB
April 18 – 20: Multiple rallies protest cuts
April 19: Vancouver Parents for Public Education
Vancouver parents & PACs fighting education cuts via a series of rallies and letter campaigns have coalesced under the group Vancouver Parents for Public Education, with a new Website and Facebook Group of their own to coordinate activities.
April 16: VSB disputes Minister claims – again
In the latest of a series of attacks from the Education Minister which Vancouver trustees have denounced as untrue, the Board has responded to the Education Minister’s allegations that Vancouver is refusing to cut administration to protect student services. A VSB statement refers to the district’s public budget proposals, pointing out that this is simply not true.
April 14: Chinese versions of postcard to Minister available.
Download one version here. A second option here. (Trilingual version with Vietnamese coming too)
April 14: Minister appoints Special Advisor to probe Vancouver’s $18 million budget crisis
- Official announcement and the Minister’s terms of reference for the Special Adviser
- Read a CBC News report here
April 13: VSB challenges Education Minister’s ‘facts’ on enrolment, budget surplus.
The Vancouver Board of Education released copies of two letters to the Education Minister, formally challenging her assertions in public and media statements that dismiss concern about the district’s budgetary challenges and excess school capacity. Read the District’s responses here and here.
April 12: BC Society for Public Education parent meeting launches district parent campaign
At a packed meeting attended by over 100 parents from over 60 Vancouver schools, parents and PAC reps agreed to come together to launch a non-partisan SOS campaign urging the provincial government to fully fund education costs. Participants agreed to build on existing efforts, such as Shaughnessy’s postcard campaign and other letter campaigns underway at other schools and planned events such as Gordon’s upcoming rally, and to include these as part of a broader coordinated strategy. More about BCSPE
April 11: DPAC media release urges parents to lobby MLAs on $18 million budget shortfall
April 8: VSB proposes Deep staff & program cuts, shorter school year to offset $18 million provincial shortfall
At a public meeting last night, VSB Superintendent Steve Cardwell outlined in detail the proposed staffing and program cuts needed to balance the district’s budget for the coming school year. The list includes laying off some 200 staff, mostly teachers and other intructional staff, and a shortened school calendar. Almost every program area was included, from French Immersion to Inner City programs, and the entire Bands program would be eliminated.
Hemmed in by provincially-legislated requirements and the need to present a balanced budget despite the Province’s failure to cover staff salary & benefit increases imposed on boards, the cuts focus on the very limited areas of local discretionary spending. And once again, that means many will directly target vulnerable students (Special Ed, ESL, Inner City, Gifted, Aboriginal & other staff who work with at-risk children).
Trustees, senior staff, stakeholders and attendees universally denounced the cuts as harmful and unacceptable, with the Board Chair agreeing the proposals were indefensible. But short of some minor tweaking, no one offered hope of solutions that would avoid serious costs for students unless the province can be persuaded to cover the funding shortfall and mitigate the crisis that it has precipitated.
It will be important in the difficult weeks ahead that parents and stakeholders NOT turn on each other in advocating “rob Peter to pay Paul” solutions – there is simply no way Vancouver can cut $18 million without hurting kids. Gifted kids, Inner City students, Band students, Point Grey students, those who gravitate towards the arts or sports and those with learning challenges are all equally deserving of a public education that helps each one realize his or her unique potential.
The only reasonable solution is for the Province to live up to its responsibilities by fully funding the costs that it has imposed on local school boards. And only if we all stand up together can we persuade them that this is the only acceptable course for government in a civil society.
April 6: Shaughnessy PAC launches funding protest campaign:
Shaughnessy parents are so concerned about the impacts of provincial underfunding that the PAC has approved a postcard campaign to press the provincial government for adequate education funding. The PAC is also urging other Vancouver parents to join the effort and has provided a convenient postcard kit that anyone can download and print off. Download their memo explaining the campaign and the postcards to copy and distribute.
March 2010: Vancouver School Board launches advocacy initiative
Since 2002, Vancouver has cut $47 million in education services due to provincial underfunding. The district has launched a new Advocacy Web page and is urging parents to get involved in the fight for full funding of public education by writing their local MLAs. Learn more here.
March 2010: Vancouver School Board’s public budget process
Faced with an $18 million deficit, VSB will invite public input at two upcoming Open Houses:
- March 24 at Vancouver Technical Secondary at 2600 East Broadway sat 7 p.m and at Sir Winston Churchill secondary at 7055 Heather St. at 7 p.m.
- March 25 at Killarney seSondary at 6454 Killarney St. at 7 p.m. and at Kitsilano Secondary at 2550 West 10th Ave. at 7 p.m.
The budget process and schedule is posted on the Vancouver School Board website.
__________
Background:
Feb 2010: District warns of bleak picture
The Chair of 
the Vancouver Board of Education has warned that the district faces a ‘bleak’ fiscal situation, after having cut $47 million since 2002 and with another $17 – $35 million more in cuts on the table for 2010-11.
Some 800 teachers have been served notice that they could face layoffs in 2010-11 – a figure that represens one-third of existing staff at one city high school with growing enrolment. School closures and a shortened school calendar are also being considered. The Board has also announced an end to Inner City grants that supp0rt lower income students at one downtown school and warned that special education is among the programs facing cuts next year, despite growing enrolment of students with special needs.
