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Vancouver School Board trustees passed an $826-million draft budget at a meeting on Monday, with final adoption set for next week, as the district faces a decline in international student enrolment.
The draft budget notes that 330 fewer students are expected to attend the city’s public schools in 2026-27, with the VSB board chair saying around 300 of those are international students.
The decline comes amid a tightening of federal immigration rules that are limiting the number of families who can come to and stay in Canada long term.
Chair Victoria Jung said fewer international students impacts both the school’s social and cultural fabric and its funding.
“I think international students bring incredible culture and diversity and lived experience to our schools,” Jung said.
“Having a reduction in international students, I think, is not ideal — we value having such beautiful diversity in our schools.”
Jung said the drop in international enrolment has also had a material impact to the amount of money coming into the district.
International students pay $17,000 a year to attend public school in Vancouver.
Given that B.C.’s school boards aren’t allowed to run a deficit, Jung said that led to some tough decisions in the draft budget.
VSB chair Victoria Jung says a decline in international student revenue impacted their draft budget. (Martin Diotte/CBC)
“We’re seeing this across the province, in all the different districts, that the reduction in international students is being felt,” Jung said.
The draft budget notes that there were a number of full-time equivalent roles that were cut in order to maintain a balanced budget.
Those cuts included district teaching staff, support staff and settlement workers, among others.
Trustee critical
Suzie Mah, a trustee with the COPE slate, said some of the cuts in the budget include three student support workers at Britannia and David Thompson secondary schools.
She said that a district teacher librarian position, which oversees librarian support across the district, was also on the chopping block.
VSB trustee Suzie Mah says she worries there could be more cuts to staff positions in the years to come. (Martin Diotte/CBC)
“These cuts are razor cuts. They’re little cuts, but they are cuts that are very, you know, detrimental to some of our most disadvantaged, and children who need help,” Mah argued.
She said the drop in international students alone does not explain the cuts being made as part of the budget, and that she feared even more severe staffing cuts next year.
Jung said the cuts were being made in response to reductions in some student numbers, and were in line with collective agreements and staffing levels that were struck with unions.
She added that librarian hours would still be available at all schools, and the one person who was filling the job had trained up others to offer those services.
“When we don’t have funds to do everything that we want, we have to be more efficient with our staffing,” the VSB chair said.
WATCH | Vancouver seeing drop in international student enrolment:
Fewer students are enrolling in public schools in Vancouver, particularly international students
Fewer students are attending public schools in Vancouver this year, and that could lead to program cuts. As Pinki Wong reports, the school board says a drop in international students is part of the issue.
Both Mah and Jung were critical of the province, saying that provincial funding for schools has not increased in step with districts’ growing demands.
“Districts are being asked to do more with less. And in Vancouver, with the high need that we have here, it is especially concerning,” Mah said.
Trustees will vote on a final version of the budget on April 29.