Vancouver educators protest cuts

Educators, impacted by school districts’ budget decisions, have fought for more education funding for years — still, their jobs are now on the chopping block

VANCOUVER, WA (April 3, 2026) — Educators at multiple schools in Vancouver held actions before and after classes on Wednesday. Workers took action to express solidarity with fellow educators hit with pink slips by Vancouver Public Schools leadership and to protest the district’s approach to addressing a budget shortfall that has caused chaos and stress for educators uncertain if they’ll have a job come the fall.

Vancouver Public Schools (VPS) sent reduction-in-force notices to 300 educators in March, KOIN reports. But now the district says it plans to cut just a fraction of those full time employees, about 107 workers. The wide and apparently unnecessary swath of notices understandably sowed stress and concern among educators, both those given notice and those who were grappling with how they would manage workloads with far fewer colleagues.

In a recent communication, VPS claimed it was forced by the educators’ contract to hand out excessive layoff notices. That explanation doesn’t wash for the Vancouver Education Association (VEA), which posted a series of rebuttals to the district’s claims on social media.

“The district chose how to implement cuts,” wrote the union in a Facebook post. “The contract ensures a fair, transparent process (like seniority protections) — it does not require over-notifying nearly 3x the number of impacted educators. The disruption is a district decision, not a union requirement.”

For many years, educators have sacrificed precious personal time to fight for sufficient funding for their schools. Still, their jobs are on the chopping block. Photo: WEA

The union continued: “The district decided how broadly to apply notices and could have reduced unecessary harm with more careful planning. Districts across the state follow similar contracts and do not issue notices at this scale…Blaming the contract ignores the district’s responsibility for thoughtful implementation and transparency.”

The district appears to have attempted to downplay the harm caused by these excessive layoff notices. But VEA asserts that even if layoff is possible, that uncertainty has a real impact on educators, who may be already job hunting, moving to other districts, or leaving the profession altogether.

Vancouver Public Schools faces real financial challenges, with reports of extremely limited cash on hand to fund operations. But educators have no say in how district funds are managed. But still, they are the ones paying the price.

“Accountability should rest with those responsible for managing the district’s finances — not the educators now facing layoffs,” wrote VEA.