VSB to cut more than 200 jobs in budget shortfall

A Vancouver School Board staff proposal calls for 167 full-time jobs to be cut to balance its budget next year and another 35 jobs will be lost due to declining enrolment.

The board is facing its largest budget shortfall, with a need to cut $27.26 million from its $477-million operating budget. To do that, it will be making secondary school classes bigger, cutting office staff in schools, cutting support workers for special needs students, and eliminating some roles altogether.

About $7.5 million of the proposed cuts are considered administrative, $2.5 million are for facilities and the remaining $17 million are educational. About 80 of the lost jobs are people who work directly with kids in roles considered to have either “severe impacts on teaching and learning” or “impact large numbers of students.” The cuts include school support workers for special needs students, teachers, vice-principals, and many specialists like anti-racism and antihomophobia teacher mentors.

Vancouver’s school board chairman Mike Lombardi said the cuts will have a significant and direct impact on teaching and learning in the classroom.

Education Minister Mike Bernier said he is disappointed with the interim budget.

“In the face of record funding from the province, VSB’s failure to deal with under-capacity schools over the years means taxpayers are paying an extra $37 million a year funding empty seats instead of education,” Bernier said in an emailed statement.

Stacy Robertson, an NPA school trustee, blamed the cuts on “financial mismanagement” by the previous school board.

“Vancouver has approximately 30 per cent more space per student than any other district,” Robertson said.

Last year, at the same stage in budgeting, the VSB had an $8.52 million shortfall.