Jennifer King can teach Nanaimo parents everything they need to know about being part of a school’s parent advisory council.

Trained as a parent information resource coordinator by the B.C. Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils, it is her job to ensure parents understand the public education system so they can advocate for their children.

“I know how hard it is to be on a PAC and not know what you’re doing,” said King, also vice-president of Nanaimo’s District Parent Advisory Council.

“Parents can be taken advantage of and used as a fundraiser instead of advocates for children.”

But helping parents navigate the system just got harder.

The Education Ministry has reduced the provincial parents’ organization’s yearly grant from $318,000 to $100,000. The rationale for the cut is to ensure as many dollars as possible go into classrooms in a tough financial year.

A recent letter from Ann Whiteaker, the confederation’s president, explains to members the funding cut will likely mean loss or reduction of some of the group’s programs, like training and support for parent information resource coordinators.

Also in jeopardy are the association’s annual conferences and the Advocacy Project, which supports parent leaders and individual parents to speak up for children.

King said while her training through the parent information resource coordinator program is complete, the group probably won’t be able to train any more parents or keep the program’s part-time coordinator.

“The way of delivering the outcome of our program could really be compromised,” she said. “I will still go out and train parents, but you would hope to have some sort of coordinator to help you.”

King said the provincial parents’ group has two conferences each year with a variety of speakers and educators. Each community sends a parent, whose job is to return and educate other parents on what they learned at the conference.

“It’s the only arena in B.C. where parents get together and share their learning and experience,” she said.

Carlos Pereira, president of Nanaimo’s District Parent Advisory Council, said training and information for B.C. parents will diminish over time due to funding cuts.

“It’s an important resource because it’s what keeps the PACs and DPACs unified. The cuts to BCCPAC will be felt over time as the information will not be out there,” he said.

reporter@nanaimobulletin.com

The province is cutting back funding for individual parent advisory councils as well this year.

Carlos Pereira, president of Nanaimo’s District Parent Advisory Council, said each individual PAC that applies receives $20 per student through gaming grants.

The money is used to buy athletic equipment, pay for extra field trips or bring in a guest speaker to talk to parents about different educational issues such as attention deficit disorder.

Pereira said without these funds, students will lose out on opportunities unless school PACs can find another source of money.

“We’ll have to increase fundraising if PACs want to maintain support levels,” he said.

Nearly 30 Nanaimo parent groups have applied for funding.

The District Parent Advisory Council receives $2,500 each year to help it support schools on a district-wide level.

The Education Ministry confirmed Tuesday that PACs will have their grants cut in half this year to $10 per student.