Suzie Mah is Fighting to Stop Cuts to Public School Librarians, Inclusive Education Teachers, and Food Programs

COPE Trustee Suzie Mah is Fighting to Improve the School Board Budget at the Open Special Board Meeting Monday 

VANCOUVER, BC – School Trustee Suzie Mah is bringing forward motions to Monday’s School Board meeting to stop cuts that will hurt students most in need.  

Trustee Mah is calling on the Board to stop the elimination of the District-wide librarian mentor teaching position, increase hours for supervision aides, reinstate teacher positions for visually-impacted and hospital/homebound students, and to replace resource teachers from the first day of teacher absence instead of two days later. 

“Resource teachers are critical for supporting our students with learning challenges, and we should not be cutting district-wide supports for librarians and inclusive education,” Mah said. “I hope these common sense motions will be supported by all Trustees to make this Budget better for students and parents in Vancouver.”

Trustee Mah has a total of six motions on the agenda for today’s meeting, including one calling to restore over $160,000 in school meal money from City grants that have not yet been confirmed. 

“During a time of spiraling cost of groceries and growing food insecurity, we can’t allow cuts to allocations for school meal supplies and services,” said COPE Trustee Suzie Mah in advance of this evening’s Special Meeting of the Vancouver School Board. 

Last May, City Council passed a motion committing $325,000 from an annual grant for School Meals and reaffirmed their support for school food support - yet only $162,500 from the City has been included in the Financial Plan for next year. 

“School Trustees and City Council have repeatedly emphasized their support for Universal School Meals programs for Vancouver students,” said Mah. “Last year the City took great pains to explain they didn’t mean to contribute to cuts to School Meal programs, so we need to make sure they renew their commitment and their food grant despite all of Ken Sim and ABC’s cuts.” 

Trustee Mah is also bringing forward a motion that calls for consideration of reallocating administrative office budgets to support resource teachers and inclusive education. 

“If we’re serious about closing the gaps in funding to support inclusive education and to meet the needs of our students, then we have to look at reallocation funding from administrative and managerial budgets,” said Mah. “I will always fight to find all possible means to support kids and their needs.” 

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To arrange an interview, please contact Suzie Mah at suzie@copevancouver.ca. 

The following motions from Trustee Suzie Mah will be debated at the Special Meeting of the Vancouver School Board, starting at 5 p.m. Monday, April 20th. The full agenda is available here. 

2.2.3 Notice of Motion from Trustee Mah: Increasing Additional Hours for Supervision Aides for the 2026 2027 School Year 

2.2.4 Notice of Motion from Trustee Mah: Reinstatement of 3.0 FTE SSB Staffing for the 2026 2027 School Year 

2.2.5 Notice of Motion from Trustee Mah: Teachers Teaching on Call Coverage for Resource Teachers from Day One of Absence 

2.2.6 Notice of Motion from Trustee Mah: Reinstatement of 1.0 FTE Teacher of the Visually Impaired and 1.0 FTE Hospital Homebound Teacher for the 2026 2027 School Year 

2.2.7 Notice of Motion from Trustee Mah: Reinstatement of 1.0 FTE District Teacher Librarian staffing for the 2026 2027 School Year 

2.2.8 Notice of Motion from Trustee Mah: Full designation of City of Vancouver Food Grant for the 2026-2027 School Year