Talk to the media
Put a face to the underfunding: news outlets like to be able to tell stories about specific people and their experiences. Find contact info on websites for newspapers, TV stations and radio stations.
For example, CBC has its “Go Public” feature and some papers have education reporters, eg: Cheryl Rossi at the Vancouver Courier (@Cheryl_Rossi) and Tracy Sherlock at The Vancouver Sun (tsherlock@vancouversun.com).
Examples of parents in the news:
• Fed up mom refusing to pay for school’s photocopy paper
• For Vancouver Parents, School Fundraising ‘Has Become Our Lives’
Talk to your elected representatives
Find contact information for MLAs (your representatives in the provincial legislature), the premier, and the ministers of education and finance here.
Tell them what you want them to do to improve public education.
Talk to parents around you
Tell other parents the facts about education budget cuts. Post the articles listed above on your PAC’s bulletin board. Download and post this information (pdf) and the FACE pamphlet (pdf) too.
Connect with groups advocating for public education
Families Against Cuts to Education (FACE):
facebc.wordpress.com; @FACE_BC; facebc.vancouver@gmail.com
Parent Advocacy Network (parents from PACs in Vancouver): PANVancouver.ca; parentadvocacynetwork@gmail.com
BC Parents of Special Needs Children (Action for Equitable Access to Education): https://equitableaccesstoeducation.wordpress.com
Facebook groups such as:
BC Citizens for Public Education;
Watchdogs of Public Education BC;
BC voters supporting BC teachers and public education
Families Against Cuts to Education – FACE Vancouver
On Twitter follow #BCed
Families Against Cuts to Education 