Vancouver school trustees say they’ll reject budget over funding complaints

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A majority of Vancouver school trustees say they are prepared to lose their jobs to protest what they say is chronic underfunding of the public education system by the B.C. Liberal government.

Green trustee Janet Fraser and all four Vision trustees say they will reject the budget proposed by staff, which would eliminate some teachers and support staff, impact special education and mentorship programs, and cut programs such as band and strings for elementary students as part of efforts to make up a $21.8-million budget shortfall.

Under the B.C. School Act, school boards are required to submit balanced budgets to the provincial government. Those that fail to do so can be fired and replaced with a government-appointed trustee – something that last happened in Vancouver in 1985.

All four Vision trustees told The Globe and Mail they will be taking a stand this year. The board's deadline to pass a balanced budget is next Thursday.

"The School Act said it is the role of school boards to improve student achievement, and I believe that the kinds of cuts we're having to make make it really difficult to do that," Vision trustee Patti Bacchus said in an interview on Wednesday. "I don't think we can do our jobs any more according to the School Act because government is not giving us the funding we need to provide the kinds of programs that enable students to meet their full potential.

"I'm willing to put my job on the line to say, 'This is not okay.'"

Vision trustee Joy Alexander agreed, saying the party has drawn a line in the sand: "Yes, we can lose our jobs, but quite frankly, I'm prepared to do that. The underfunding has gone on for too long and this is our only way – I don't know any other way – to get the government's attention."

Their comments come days after the Vancouver School Board tabled a list of 12 schools that could be closed within the next year.

Ms. Fraser said while she does not want schools to close, she acknowledges trustees will have to make tough decisions to ensure students are in seismically safe buildings. Closing some schools would increase capacity levels; the government and the district had agreed on a 95-per-cent capacity utilization target for the government to provide funding for seismic upgrades.

However, Ms. Fraser said other cuts required to balance the 2016-17 budget would have too severe an impact on students.

"I appreciate that some extra funding has been given to B.C.'s students, but at present I am still willing to be dismissed as a trustee in the hope of achieving better public education funding," she wrote in a blog post this week.

The nine trustees appear poised to vote as they did in April: the four Non-Partisan Association trustees for the budget and the four Vision trustees and one Green trustee against.

NPA trustee Fraser Ballantyne said the board has a duty to balance the budget, and to reject it would be a shirking of responsibilities.

"We now have 10 schools with less than 100 students with a principal making $100,000-plus, supervising two to three teachers," Mr. Ballantyne wrote in an e-mail. "This is just untenable economically and not good for our students educationally. We were voted in to solve problems – represent what we think is right for our Vancouver students – not shy away from the challenge that faces us."

NPA trustee Christopher Richardson said while there is consensus that funding is inadequate, it is not worth the risk of forfeiting power to a government-appointed trustee.

"The reality is that anybody that comes in from Victoria, they're not going to bring any more money with them," he said. "The budget as it is is being implemented as we speak by staff … We need to provide the necessary governance as leadership and not defer to others."

Earlier this year, the school board's budget shortfall reached $27.2-million – the largest ever faced by the board. The Ministry of Education has since provided budget relief totalling $4.88-million; the relocation of some students from Henderson Annex saved another $580,000.

The COPE-dominated school board of 1985 was fired for refusing to submit a budget that would have made up for a $14-million shortfall. COPE candidates swept all nine seats in a special school board election the following year.

The B.C. government has fired other school boards in recent years for various reasons. Most recently, the Education Ministry dismissed the North Okanagan-Shuswap board earlier this month over concerns the board had become dysfunctional and appointed a trustee to replace them. In 2012, the Cowichan Valley school board was replaced by a trustee after the board failed to pass a balanced budget.