Making Ontario Education Funding More Transparent and Easier to Understand

Table of Contents

1. Content
2. Additional Resources
3. Related Topics

Core Education Funding (previously the Grants for Student Needs)

The Ministry of Education undertook a review of education funding to ensure that it is more understandable and transparent to parents, and school boards have greater accountability for how public funds are used. This is the first time in 25 years that education funding has been significantly restructured. This change has not impacted total funding for each school board.

New Core Education Funding Formula includes:

• a revised structure that provides greater clarity as to how the funds are to be used
• a streamlined funding model with six funding streams (previously 18 grants) and 28 allocations (previously 77 allocations)
• the latest Statistics Canada census data to better reflect and respond to local student needs
• new interactive funding dashboards to provide parents with easy-to-understand information on how funding is allocated each year to school boards and how funding is spent (set for release in late summer).

In 2024-25, Ontario is investing a historic $28.6 billion in Core Education Funding and $403 million for Responsive Education Programs and Funding to External Partners that continue to focus key resources where they matter most - on student success.

The Core Education Funding for school boards is made up of six funds:

1. Classroom Staffing Fund - $14.6 billion -supports the majority of staff who work in classrooms, including teachers, early childhood educators in kindergarten classrooms and some educational assistants.
2. Learning Resources Fund -$4.2 billion -supports the costs of staffing typically required outside of the classroom to support student needs, such as teacher-librarians / library technicians, guidance teacher-counsellors, mental health workers, school management staff, as well as non-staffing classroom costs, such as learning materials and classroom equipment.
3. Special Education Fund - $3.5billion -supports positive outcomes for students with special education needs. This funding is for the additional programs, services and/or equipment these students may require. This is an increase of $117.2 million over 2023-24.
4. School Facilities Fund - $2.9 billion - supports operating (including cleaning and utilities), maintaining, renovating and renewing school buildings. It also provides additional support for students in rural and northern communities.
5. Student Transportation Fund - $1.3 billion -supports transportation of students between home and school. This is an increase of about $80 million since 2023-24.
6. School Board Administration Fund - $700 million - supports governance and the administration and operations of the school board, as well as for parent engagement activities.

In addition to the six funds above, Core Education Funding also includes more than $52 million for school authorities. Further, in 2023-24, the government is providing $1.3 billion in funding to build and expand schools across Ontario, faster.

Additional Resources

Related Topics