BY BEVERLY BERNARDO
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -More than 200 parents, teachers, and students rallied here May 10 to protest cuts to education being carried out by the Vancouver School Board (VSB). The action was called by Parents for Public Education, a group formed in April after the VSB announced that due to a projected $16.1 million budget deficit it was eliminating 326 jobs. In response to the public protest that swiftly followed, the VSB reduced the number of job cuts to 302.

In early April, some 500 teachers, students, parents, and support staff packed meetings of the VSB committee to discuss the planned job cuts. Even the revised cuts would virtually eliminate the position of staff assistants, organized by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). In all, 108 staff assistants are among the 182 support staff that would lose their jobs.

Approximately 100 CUPE members came out to the April 9 meeting to voice their opposition to the cuts. More than 60 groups and individuals submitted briefs to the VSB's first two committee hearings; more hearings are scheduled in the near future. In addition to eliminating the positions of staff assistants, the school board is also slashing 107 teaching jobs, 21 administrative staff, 9 principals or vice principals and 7 maintenance workers.

The school board's plan will reestablish segregated classrooms for disabled students. "Integration is not a frill, but a necessity," Brian Thomas from the B.C. Coalition of People with Disabilities told the April 10 VSB meeting. VSB officials say ending integration of special needs students in the classroom is a necessary consequence of eliminating staff assistants.

The cuts will also hit Vancouver's English as a Second Language (ESL) programs particularly hard. In B.C. the number of ESL students has doubled from 34,176 in 1991 to more than 71,300 today. Nine ESL teachers are slated to be cut, along with several administrators and consultants. Last year there was one ESL teacher for every 150 ESL students in regular classes; next year it could be one for every 160 students.

"We can't let the provincial government off the hook either," Kim Zander representing parents from Lord Nelson Elementary School told the crowd at the April 9 meeting. The New Democratic Party government in British Columbia has been claiming that it is making education a priority. In response to the rising opposition to the announced cuts in Vancouver, Education Minister Paul Ramsey emphasized that the provincial government currently spends more per student than any other province and is increasing funding by 1 percent next year. However, actual operating budget dollars spent per student will drop by $43 this year.

Roger Annis, the Communist League candidate in the upcoming parliamentary election, attended the May 10 protest action along with other campaign supporters. He explained that the Communist League campaign is opposing all cuts to social services. Annis drew attention to the fact that in socialist Cuba, despite severe economic problems, not a single school or hospital has been closed. "Your actions here today together with the actions of parents in New Brunswick who are fighting to stop closures of Francophone schools are an example for all working people who want to fight the cuts," Annis told rally participants.  
 
 
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