Vancouver students rally for education funding
Posted May 29, 2016 1:50 pm.
Last Updated May 29, 2016 1:54 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – A few dozen parents, trustees, teachers, and politicians stood outside the Vancouver Art Gallery in the pouring rain yesterday to support a student lead rally.
There has been months of various protests calling on the provincial government to put more money into education.
Students voiced their need for support in several facets including environmental concerns, transgender issues, and racism.
Parent advocate Jennifer Stewart is expecting education support to be a tipping point election issue “You are seeing people speaking out. People who didn’t necessarily ever protest anything before, but now their children’s school is possibly being closed or [are] being asked to fundraiser for textbooks. They are starting to say, ‘hey I pay taxes.'”
“The parties are going into election mode. I think that this is going to be an election issue because it is on a lot of people’s minds and the cuts have gotten to a point where people can’t ignore them anymore so people are getting really concerned about it.”
School boards across the Lower Mainland are facing a variety of issues including budget shortfalls, crowded classrooms, program cuts and much needed building upgrades.
