A new Tyee investigation by Katie Hyslop reveals that the Vancouver School Board has nearly doubled its senior administrator positions over the past decade — from 24 in 2014–15 to 44 in 2024–25 — while student enrolment dropped slightly over the same period. The pay increases are equally striking: associate superintendents and the secretary-treasurer saw remuneration climb by roughly $100,000 over the decade, and superintendent compensation increased by nearly $200,000.
This expansion happened alongside sustained cuts to the positions that directly affect students. The 2026–27 budget eliminates the district librarian role and reduces the number of teachers trained to work with visually impaired students. Last year, the board balanced its budget partly by abandoning its commitment to being a living wage employer, dropping wages for contracted workers like school bus drivers.
Marjorie Dumont, president of the Vancouver Elementary and Adult Educators’ Society, told the Tyee her membership consistently asks why there are so many district administrators and why their pay is so high. “The money spent on senior management could be going to the students,” she said, adding that the union wants teachers, counsellors, and other staff who work directly with students — not more layers of institutional management.
Former VSB trustee Patti Bacchus, who served from 2008 to 2016, confirmed the board once ran with a leaner senior team without difficulty, and that trustees deliberately chose not to replace some retiring senior administrators in order to prioritise classroom spending. She also noted that percentage-based raises compound inequality: three per cent of $400,000 is a very different number than three per cent of $70,000.
For ECP, this pattern is familiar. Districts consistently frame budget shortfalls as inevitable consequences of provincial underfunding — and they are under real pressure — but the internal allocation choices tell their own story. When a district doubles its management layer while cutting specialist teaching positions and reducing wages for its lowest-paid workers, the scarcity framing becomes harder to sustain. The question is never just “is there enough money”; it is always also “who gets protected when there isn’t.”
The full article is worth reading. Hyslop’s comparison of VSB, Surrey, and Coquitlam senior admin pay is particularly useful — Vancouver employs nearly as many senior administrators as Surrey, despite Surrey enrolling 30,000 more students.
Source: Katie Hyslop, The Tyee (May 7, 2026)
-
The BC NDP is balancing the budget on mothers’ backs
For years, families have been told that schools are inclusive, that supports are needs-based, that ministries are working together, and that children will not be left behind—a cascade of institutional reassurance designed to function as substitute for material reality, the kind of language…
-
Balancing budgets by denying disabled kids support
In British Columbia, we are told that the education system is improving. Budgets are rising. Inclusion is a stated priority. And yet, for families whose children require consistent, sustained support—especially those who are disabled or living with complex trauma—the lived experience is defined…
-
Real leaders lead by example
In May 2025, the Vancouver School Board (VSB) quietly enacted wage cuts that stripped contracted workers—specifically bus drivers and special education attendants—of their living wage top-ups. At the same time, VSB senior leadership quietly accepted significant raises. This decision will result in a…
