School and board planning for the 2025-2026 school year is underway and we want to hear from you! We invite parents/guardians, students, staff and community members to provide input into the budget development process.
2025-2026 DCDSB Budget Consultation
Please take a few minutes to share your feedback by completing an anonymous survey. The information gathered will be used to inform our school and board annual plans and budget for the 2025-2026 school year. Please email any questions or concerns about the survey to finance@dcdsb.ca.
The survey closed at 4:00 p.m. on Monday, March 31, 2025.
Background Information
Over the past several years, the education sector has been presented with unprecedented challenges and funding pressures. During this time, the Durham Catholic District School Board (DCDSB) has worked diligently to maintain a balanced budget that aligns with the board’s Inspire 2026 multi-year plan and Ministry of Education directives. To remain financially sustainable, the board must continue to be discerning with its resource allocations. We need your input to help us understand what your areas of priority are to enable us to meet the evolving needs of our Durham Catholic learning community while remaining fiscally responsible.
How the DCDSB is Funded
The DCDSB’s main funding source is through Core Education Funding grants from the province of Ontario. The majority of this funding is restricted by mandated class sizes and staffing ratios, while other areas are governed through specific funding envelopes whereby prescribed funds can only be spent on their intended purpose. The main areas where funding is restricted to specific use include: special education, student mental health, indigenous education, transportation, temporary accommodations and capital funding.
In addition to these regulatory constraints, the board faces challenges in the following areas:
- Inflationary pressures: Ministry funding has not kept up with inflation. Funding benchmarks for textbooks, learning materials and classroom supplies has increased by 2.3% since 2019 whereas inflation has increased by over 18%.
- Statutory Benefit Increases (e.g. CPP and EI): These federally regulated benefit increases have remained unfunded by the province. The cumulative funding loss over the past 5 years for DCDSB is approximately $4M.
- Special Education: The DCDSB continues to have a shortfall to support special education in excess of $2M annually.
- Supply costs (sick leave): Costs continue to outpace funding. The gap between funding and actual costs is approximately $4M/year for DCDSB.
- Temporary Accommodation: Funding from the ministry for temporary accommodation (e.g. portable purchase and moves) has been capped provincially for years. Funding continues to fall behind market realities.
- Construction Benchmarks: The current Ministry of Education Capital Priorities Funding Benchmark does not sufficiently recognize rapidly increasing cost factors in construction.
Learn more about how school boards receive funding by visiting the Ministry Website. Details on the DCDSB's prior year's budget and financial statements can be found on our website under Annual Budget and Priorities Reports.
2025-2026 Budget Development and Timelines
The 2025-2026 budget process and timelines are summarized below, and details will continue to be added to this webpage as information becomes available.
Key Dates:
The following list outlines the key dates in the budget process:
- January/February 2025: Senior Administration Budget and Data Review
- February 10, 2025: Finance Committee Meeting to Review Current Financials, Budget Process and Timelines
- February 24, 2025: Launch of Stakeholder Consultation (Survey Open February 24 - March 31, 2025)
- March/April 2025:
- Funding Release from Ministry of Education
- Internal Budget Strategy Sessions
- Budget Development
- April 14, 2025: Finance Committee Meeting to Review Budget Consultation Results, Review Grant Announcements and Priorities, and Delegation Opportunity at Meeting
- May 20, 2025: Finance Committee Meeting: Presentation of the Draft Budget and Priorities Report
- June 9, 2025: Finance Committee Meeting: Final Budget and Priorities Report for Recommendation to the Board of Trustees
- June 16, 2025: 2025-2026 Final Budget and Priorities Report to Board of Trustees for Approval at Regular Board Meeting
- June 30, 2025: Budget Filed with the Ministry of Education
Frequently Asked Questions
Below are the answers to some commonly asked questions about the budget process.
The majority of the operating budget, nearly 89%, is spent on staffing costs through salaries, benefits and staff development. Most of these salaries are based on Ministry of Education legislated class size formulas and contract agreements. The rest is spent on utilities, building maintenance and supplies, student transportation, administration and other costs. There is little flexible funding available to resource board initiatives.
We are required to prepare a balanced budget. However, a school board is allowed to run a 1% deficit (of operating grants provided from the Ministry of Education) if it has surplus available to cover it. The Durham Catholic District School Board had depleted its reserves during the Pandemic and only has approximately 0.4% in operating surplus available.
Our decisions are guided by a few key factors:
- Commitment to a balanced budget
- Budget alignment with our strategic plan
- Multi-year budget framework (commitments, multi-year programs)
- Obligations of all collective agreements, board policies and contracts
- Ministry legislation, regulations, policies and priorities
No. The majority of the budget is committed, which means that the Ontario government dictates how it can be spent. There are legislated class size requirements that must be met, salary and benefit levels set through provincial labour negotiations to be maintained and restricted funding streams such as special education and Indigenous education that are enveloped for specific programs.
There is little funding available to spend on areas recommended by the Board.
The budget covers a fiscal year from September 1 until August 31.
The Board of Trustees needs to approve the final budget by the end of June each year.
We encourage you to share feedback by completing an anonymous survey. The information gathered will be used to inform our school and board annual plans and budget for the 2025-2026 school year. The survey will close at 4:00 p.m. on Monday, March 31, 2025.
Please email any questions or concerns about the survey to finance@dcdsb.ca.
Special Education Funding is made up of the following:
- Per Pupil Allocation
- Differentiated Needs Allocation
- Complex Supports Allocation
- Specialized Equipment Allocation
Learn more about each of these allocation areas below.
This funding primarily supports staffing costs, including:
- Special education teachers
- Educational assistants
- Professional staff
- Professional development and learning materials
An amount is allocated to each school board based on the total enrolment of all students, not just those with special education needs. This fund provides a base amount of special education funding for each board to assist with the costs of offering additional support to students with special education needs.
Differentiated needs allocation
This funding is based on assessments of special education needs in school boards and each school board’s varying ability to support its students with special education needs.
Components of the Differentiated Needs Allocation:
A. Special Education Statistical Prediction Model
The ministry uses a special education statistical prediction model to estimate the percentage of students in a school board who may need special education programs and services. The model uses anonymous neighborhood profiles of students across Ontario, developed using data from:
- Parent level of education
- Family income
- Unemployment
- Recent immigration to Canada
B. Measures of Variability
The model reflects differences among school boards using seven categories grouped into twp areas: special education needs profile and ability to respond to these needs.
1. School Board Profile of Special Education Needs
-
- Special education programs/services: Students receiving special education
- EQAO: Participation and achievement in EQAO assessments
- Credit accumulation, locally-developed and alternative non-credit courses: Participation and success in these courses
Data is compared to the provincial average to determine funding.
2. School Board Ability to Support Special Education Needs
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- Remote and rural adjustment
- Indigenous adjustment
- French-language school board adjustment
- Northern adjustment
C. Collaboration and Integration Base Funding
Funding for collaborative and integrated approaches to serving students with special education needs.
D. Multi-Disciplinary Supports
Funding for teams supporting special education assessments and capacity building.
E. Local Special Education Priorities
Funding for enhancing supports based on local needs.
F. Early Math Intervention
Funding for early math programs for elementary students with special education needs.
G. Professional Assessments
Funding for conducting professional assessments and developing infrastructure.
This funding is for specialized supports for students with complex special education needs.
This funding helps school boards to buy specialized equipment for students with special education needs which is essential for students to attend school, access the Ontario curriculum, and participate in a board-determined alternative program/course.
For more information, please review the Guide to the 2024-2025 Special Education Fund on the Ministry of Education’s website.
In the 2024-2025 school year, the DCDSB has:
- 45 schools
- 3 adult and continuing education centres
- 23,190 students
- 2,400 staff
- $314.6 million operating budget
- $67.9 million capital budget