VSB’s Bus Drivers See 25 Per Cent Wage Cut as Senior Staff Get Big Raises

Photo Credit: CTV News

Bus drivers and other employees contracted by the Vancouver School Board (VSB) had their wages cut by up to 25 per cent at the end of June as senior staff saw large salary increases of up to $66,000. 

In the 2025/2026 budget, VSB trustees approved a measure that would halt a program started in 2022 that saw the District pay a top-up to the wages of contracted staff, to ensure that the wages of all contracted employees met the living wage threshold, as determined by Living Wage BC. In 2024/25, the District spent approximately $600,000 to provide the top-up to contracted employees. 

School bus drivers contracted by the VSB — who mostly serve to transport students with diverse needs to specialized programs around the district — will bear most of the impacts of this wage cut, according to CTV News. Their hourly wage will go from $25.68 to less than $20. Living wage in Vancouver, as determined by Living Wage BC, is now $27.05. 

“That money has been a part of our budgeting process, so why stop now?” added VSB Trustee Jennifer Reddy. “We’ve already brought it to 2025. Let’s continue it and be really proud of being a living wage employer. That’s the point of it.”

“It’s really sad that you see the people who are on the lowest end of the wage scale being punished and people at the highest end being rewarded with really huge wages and wage increases,” spokesperson Bill Tieleman for the ​​Union of Operating Engineers Local 963, told CTV News. 

The amount of money spent on District Administration costs by the VSB has recently skyrocketed. Since the 2014/15 fiscal year, this line item has increased by 87 per cent, reaching over $32 million in 2024/25. 

However, the District’s enrollment has also decreased slightly over that time period. In 2014/15, the VSB spent $343 per student on District Administration. In 2024/2025, the VSB spent $655 on District Administration for every one of its 49,000 students. This represents a 91 per cent increase, and pales in comparison to the $267 Surrey spends per student on District Administration.

The Surrey School District, however, had an enrollment of over 83,000 students in 2024/25.

In 2023/24, VSB Superintendent Helen McGregor saw a $48,801 pay raise, earning $345,934, while Hamber’s Director of Instruction, Aaron Davis, saw a raise of $30,279. Associate Superintendent Peter Nuij got a $66,993 raise, the largest increase among senior staff.

When asked for comment on the matter, VSB Communications emphasized that the VSB does not employ any bus drivers and does not set wages for the employees of its private contractors. As well, they wrote that the VSB is obligated to adopt balanced budgets. Funding allocations are “informed by available provincial funding, collective agreement obligations, contractual obligations and student needs,” the comment said said. 

When asked to explain where money under the line item “District Administration goes, VSB Communications shared that it “covers the costs needed to administer the operation of a school district with over 7,000 staff, more than 110 sites and 50,000 students. These costs include Human Resources, payroll administration, health and safety, finance, accounts payable, accounts receivable, privacy and risk management, and legal fees related to ongoing litigation.”

As well, the District says that 75 per cent of its exempt staff — employees who are not covered by a collective agreement, which includes school administrators and senior VSB staff —  earn salaries lower than the maximum pay range for their role, according to guidelines established by the BC Public School Employers Association. 

Amid the cuts, VSB Board Chair Victoria Jung says that staff have faced bullying and threats. 

“No one wants to go to work and feel unsafe and I think that that’s what’s happening right now,” she told CTV News, adding that staff members have felt personally threatened.

When asked about the nature of the threats, Jung said that some staff felt targeted after small posters were put up near schools with names, salaries, and, in some cases, photos.

“We, of course, rely on our partners and the support of the Vancouver Police Department [...] It is a serious matter, and the wellbeing of our staff are extremely important to us as a board and as a district. So, we will be participating and assisting in any way possible,” she said.

However, the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) is not conducting a criminal investigation because it is not aware of any threats.

“The posters were removed by VSB staff and we have opened a file, at their request, to document the information that was provided to us,” Sgt. Steve Addison told CTV News.

VSB Communications staff would not comment on this specific case, only saying that the VSB prioritizes staff safety.

Jung also told CTV News that the salary information contained in the posters (pictured above) was not accurate. However, using the VSB’s own financial statements, The Nest verified the information contained in the posters as entirely accurate, except for one salary figure that was inaccurate by $4, and minor misspellings in two names.

When asked for comment, the VSB did not provide an explicit clarification or retraction of Jung’s comments.