As families fight for inclusive education and basic classroom support, the Vancouver School Board is pouring millions into legal fees—more than triple what it spent just a few years ago. Public records reveal a dramatic spike in payments to Harris & Company, the district’s longtime law firm, coinciding with a high-profile property lawsuit and growing discontent over underfunded special education services. This post examines the financial trade-offs, asking hard questions about how public dollars are being used—and who is paying the price.
VSB’s soaring legal bills (Harris & Co.) vs. inclusion funding
Public records show that the Vancouver School Board (VSB) has been spending large – and rapidly growing – sums on legal services with Harris & Company, its go-to law firm, even as funding for inclusive education struggles to meet student needs.
In the 2019–2020 fiscal year, VSB paid Harris & Company about $231,487 media.vsb.bc.ca. By 2022–2023, that annual payment had jumped to roughly $799,700 media.vsb.bc.ca. Most strikingly, in the 2023–2024 year VSB’s payments to Harris & Company exploded to $3,204,911 www2.gov.bc.ca. This suggests an extraordinary increase in legal expenditures in recent years. For context, Harris & Company specialises in education law and has deep ties to VSB – one of its partners even served as VSB’s in-house counsel years ago harrisco.com. There’s no doubt that VSB leans heavily on this firm for legal matters, and it’s costing millions.
Major litigation driving costs
What’s behind these skyrocketing legal bills? A significant factor is a major lawsuit over school property. The Conseil Scolaire Francophone (CSF) – BC’s French-language school board – is suing VSB to obtain several school sites (starting with Queen Elizabeth Annex and expanding to other properties) www2.gov.bc.ca.
VSB is vigorously defending against the CSF’s claims www2.gov.bc.ca. This case has forced VSB to set aside a massive reserve for legal costs. In fact, VSB’s 2024 financial statements note an appropriated surplus of $9.35 million for “Unfunded Litigation Costs,” up from $2.08 million the year before www2.gov.bc.ca. In other words, over $9 million of the district’s funds have been earmarked to fight this legal battle.
The district’s 2024–2025 budget accordingly included a one-time $7.66 million allocation for legal/litigation expenses media.vsb.bc.ca media.vsb.bc.ca (with any unspent portion to carry forward).
By 2025–2026 they plan to scale back legal spending to a “normal” ~$0.6 million media.vsb.bc.ca, potentially implying the current spike is due to the CSF case. This massive legal expenditure is money that, absent litigation, could otherwise support educational services.
Impact on inclusion resources
Meanwhile, advocates worry that funds intended for special education/inclusion are not reaching students.
A recent caregiver-led report found that “the VSB’s inclusion budget has been shrinking relative to the number of students requiring support.” Alarmingly, in 2023/24 the VSB underspent its own inclusive education budget by $2.8 million – money budgeted for students with disabilities that wasn’t actually used media.vsb.bc.ca media.vsb.bc.ca. (These findings were presented to the Board in April 2025 by the District Parent Advisory Council’s Inclusive Education Working Group.)
The same report notes that while VSB’s total inclusive education funding has grown on paper, it has not kept pace with rising needs, and VSB actually spends less per student with disabilities than neighbouring districts like Burnaby or Surrey vancouverdpac.org.
In fact, part of VSB’s so-called “inclusive education” budget gets diverted to other purposes (e.g. principal and VP salaries) rather than direct supports vancouverdpac.org.
Families are feeling the squeeze:
Reduced EA (Education Assistant) staffing, inadequate resource-teacher time, and declining outcomes (VSB’s graduation rate for students with disabilities has recently fallen, eroding a once-higher rate) media.vsb.bc.ca media.vsb.bc.ca. In short, money is tight where it matters most for inclusion.
At a time when students with disabilities are being asked to do more with less, the Vancouver School Board is investing millions in legal defence and litigation strategy. Whether or not the CSF lawsuit justifies this scale of spending, the trade-offs are undeniable: legal budgets are growing while inclusion supports are falling short. In an education system meant to serve all children, we must ask—why is money being invested in litigation, not learning?
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How to lodge an education appeal in British Columbia
Filing an appeal in the Vancouver School District is not for the faint of heart. It’s like falling on glass slowly. Emotionally draining by design. But for some families, it is the only path left. I’ve filed several myself. Sometimes, my child got…
If litigation is where the district is willing to spend its money—and where it seems to take challenges seriously—then perhaps more families, advocates, and community groups need to meet them there. But legal action comes at a cost. Families who pursue justice often face years of exhaustion, emotional toll, and eventual silence under nondisclosure agreements. The settlements they receive—while deserved—drain funds that could have built the inclusive system their children were originally denied.
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Right to no discrimination
Every child has the right to learn and belong at school without being treated unfairly because of who they are. In British Columbia (B.C.), this Right to No Discrimination means public schools must welcome all students on equal terms, regardless of their race, Indigeneity, colour, ancestry,…
And perhaps most troubling of all, the legal argument has already been won. In Moore v. British Columbia, the Supreme Court affirmed that denying meaningful access to education is discrimination.
So the real question isn’t whether students have the right to inclusion—they do.
The question is:
what will it take to make the Vancouver School Board actually follow the law?
What is it going to take to see change?
