Out of about 50,000 students, about 20,000 students returning to school this September will be in unsafe seats.

Of those 20,000 in unsafe seats, a disproportionate number of these students will be in East Vancouver. The Vancouver School Board (VSB) has a mandate to ensure equitable distribution of resources across the district. However, statistics reveal some disparities in capital funding in Vancouver.

If your child attends a school in east Vancouver, you are more than twice as likely to be enrolled in an unsafe seat.
Here’s some detailed data based on the 2023/2024 school year:
Elementary schools –
– There are 89 elementary schools in total, 32 are at high seismic risk and almost all of those are on Vancouver’s east side.
– 20% of elementary schools have no plan to be made seismically safe, most of those on Vancouver’s east side.
–  6,309 elementary students on the east side in unsafe seats, compared to only 1,775 unsafe elementary seats on the west side.

High schools –
– There are 9 high schools each in east and west Vancouver.
– Only 2 high schools on the east side have received seismic upgrades (Tupper and Vancouver Technical), compared to 4 on the west side.
– No high schools in the entire area of southeast Vancouver have been seismically updated.

Capital Planning Impact:

The lack of seismic upgrades in schools has further consequences in capital planning. The VSB prioritizes seismically upgraded schools for other improvements, such as accessible playgrounds, ventilation upgrades, and upgrades to play fields, and deferred maintenance projects. Schools without seismic upgrades will not receive other much needed capital improvements to their school sites.

Hope for the Future:

The provincial government has committed to a record budget $3.75 billion over the next three years to improve, replace, and build new schools.

The VSB is submitting a 5 year capital plan to the province for approval, and we hopeful that schools on the VSB’s list will receive funding.  More details on the VSB’s 5 year capital plan are here.

As parents and caregivers, we  are hoping that all schools will receive seismic upgrades regardless of the location.  We know that Vancouver is growing in its population and we will need safe seats at all school sites to accommodate existing students and future ones. 

With a growing population and increasing infrastructure demands, we ask the VSB to collaborate with the City and the Ministry of Education and Child Care to plan for the future including child care spaces at school sites. Parents and caregivers are eager to be partners in facilities planning.

The voices of parents and caregivers matter.  To make a difference in facilities planning, we encourage you to join Vancouver DPAC. Your involvement will help advocate for equitable solutions and ensure that all students have safe and supportive learning environments.