SOS was founded in April 2002 as a response to news that provincial education policies would require budget cuts totaling $25 million for Vancouver schools. PAC parents met in a Vancouver living room and within just two weeks, collected over 14,000 letters to Premier Campbell and then Minister Clark supporting the S.O.S. campaign. All education partners supported this extraordinary effort, including Vancouver school trustees and DPAC.

At a January 2003 meeting, SOS parents endorsed the principles printed here – guiding principles for all SOS actions.

SOS continues to act as a loose, non-partisan network of Vancouver parents concerned about the effect of budget cuts on public education.

Since it’s inception an open email discussion list has been in place. Until recently the list was run through my personal UBC faculty email services. To allow a more flexible and community-responsive set up the list has been moved to a stand alone server on the Learning Pool. To subscribe to the new SOS List click here.