Families have been rallying to save their local schools from closure. (CBC)

Three Vancouver school trustees say they will vote against the proposed closure of five Vancouver schools.

Vision Vancouver members Patti Bacchus, Mike Lombardi and Ken Clement announced Sunday they could not support a decision to close schools in the wake of a funding shortfall.

"We heard loud and clear through our community consultation that the public does not support school closures and we are listening to those concerns," said Bacchus, the board's chair.

The Vancouver School Board is considering closing five schools — Queen Alexandra Elementary, Carleton Elementary, Macdonald Elementary, McBride Annex and Champlain Heights Annex — in order to deal with declining enrolment and a $9-million budget deficit.

The board held extensive public consultation on school closures, including 10 meetings where more than 1,600 people registered their attendance and, according to Vision Vancouver, hundreds announced their opinions against school closures.

"If we proceeded with these five schools, it would have been a total of $1.5 million for our budget next year," Bacchus said.

"We are already looking at a $10-million shortfall, so we know the financial problem is going to be there whether or not we close these schools. And the amount it represented — we heard loudly and we heard clearly from communities that it wasn't worth saving."

However, the trustees did not say how they propose to tackle the funding shortfall.

Ken Denike, a trustee with the Non-Partisan Association, said the trustees' announcement is frustrating because it does not address the board's budget issues.

"Basically, I think we are going to have more teacher layoffs — that is basically where we are at, at this point — and support-staff layoffs," he said.

"That is about the only place we can go for funds, and I think it is really unfortunate when you have to cut programs in schools where you have got increased enrolment in order to promote programs in schools where you don't have it."

The board is scheduled to vote on the school closures on Dec. 14.