Welcome

Welcome to the Vancouver Public Education Project.

Starting in September 2008, articles, information and resources will be posted on this site about advocacy for Vancouver schools. In preparation for the upcoming Board of Education elections, we’ll be posting tools to help parents, educators and community groups organize all-candidates meetings. We’ll also be asking candidates for their views on the issues and posting their answers here on the “Election Report Card’ page.

We invite you to:

read about our activities and history show your support by adding your name and comments to on the ‘endorsers’ page bookmark this site for future reference and forward this link to your friends and colleagues

NEW – Open Letter to the Premier & Minister of Education

September, 2008

To: Premier Gordon Campbell & Education Minister Shirley Bond

From: Vancouver Public Education Project

Re: Provincial school capital funding policy and the stalled seismic upgrade program

Some 800 seismically substandard schools have been identified in BC. BC parents were reminded just last May by the earthquake in Sichuan Province, China of the tragic results when schools collapse.

The Premier must address his government’s failure to follow through on his commitment to seismically upgrade all BC schools in 15 years. In Vancouver, 17 high-risk schools were given top priority, with a promise to complete seismic upgrades by 2008. To date, construction has yet to begin on most and none are finished. Why must our children attend schools that are often the most vulnerable buildings in our communities?

Our Story

In January 2008, the Vancouver Public Education Project wrote a letter to Vancouver’s civic political parties. This letter was published in the Vancouver Courier and invited Vancouver residents to join our call for a progressive and united campaign in the November 2008 election of Board of Education trustees.

Since launching that letter, Project participants have organized additional initiatives including launching this website and planning an upcoming election ‘Report Card’ on school trustee candidates.