(Editor's note: After this article was sent to the printer on April 28, the Vancouver school board decided to delay voting on its 2010–11 budget until June.)

Parents and children bond in lots of different ways. Often, doing things they haven’t tried before makes them proud of each other. This was the case on April 23 for Kris Jang and her daughter Sydney.

It was their first time participating in a protest together. Standing on the back lawn of the Vancouver school board’s main office on West Broadway, mother and daughter were part of a group of at least 200 people, mostly secondary students. The protesters had assembled to confront the possibility that the district will implement its most drastic reduction of services in recent years.

Their demand was clear: for the province to fully fund the cost of public education.

“I’m very proud to be here with my daughter protesting budget cuts,” a beaming Jang told the Georgia Straight.

Her daughter is in Grade 11 at Ideal Mini School, a small alternative school within the district system. Located on its own campus on West 59th Avenue, Ideal offers a complete academic program for grades 8 to 12, with an emphasis on the arts and social responsibility, and the environment in particular.

“We’re probably one of the greenest schools in Vancouver,” Jang said about her daughter’s school. “We recycle everything. We have a composting program. We grow organic herbs and sometimes vegetables to use in the food that students prepare for lunches.”

With a funding shortfall of $16.32 million projected for the 2010–11 school year, district staff recommended in an April 27 report to the school board the elimination of the equivalent of 69.1 full-time teaching positions. This move would be felt across the system, and mini schools are no exception.

Another 30.5 teaching support staff positions are potentially on the chopping block. And that’s not the end of the list. Some 14.79 jobs in school administration; 18.3 in continuing, adult, and summer education; 10.3 in district administration; and 18.7 in facilities maintenance could be slashed.

All in all, staff have recommended slashing 161.7 positions across the district. The board will vote on the final budget this evening (April 29). If it doesn’t balance the books, the provincial government has the legal authority to fire school trustees, who are elected officials.

In a phone interview the Straight asked Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid point-blank if she would dismiss boards that don’t balance their budgets. “You know, trustees are aware that the legislation is in place, that balanced budgets need to be submitted to us,” she replied. “They have an excellent track record of doing that. I believe that they will provide us with balanced budgets.”

In a recent open letter to parents and staff, superintendent of schools Steve Cardwell described the financial tempest. “We are in the midst of a perfect storm as this shortfall represents the culmination of declining enrolment, loss of Ministry of Education grants, and escalating operating costs,” Cardwell stated.

In the April 27 report, staff pointed out that the proposed cuts would “shake the very core of the system”. According to the report, the reductions would “compound and compromise the ability for our system to maintain and continue the same level of service provided in the past”. They would “undoubtedly take a toll on an already overworked system”, it said.

To put these cuts in perspective, the Vancouver school board has cut a total of 276.8 full-time positions since the 2002–03 school year.

The board must submit a preliminary budget for the next school year by June 30 this year.