Toronto District School Board
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School Budget Allocations

Base School and Small School Allocation

Regular Schools:

  • Each school receives a base school allotment of $5,000 for Elementary and $10,000 for Secondary.
  • Small schools with enrollments of 300 FTE or less receive a graduated small school supplement. Schools under 200 FTE receive a $5,500; schools between 200 and 250 FTE receive $2,750; and schools between 251 and 300 FTE receive $1,650.
  • Alternative schools on stand-alone sites receive a base allocation of $5,000.

Special Education Schools:

  • Each special education school receives a base school allocation of $5,000 for Elementary and $20,000 for Secondary.

  • The special education base school allocation addresses the following school office needs:
    • Photocopier costs
    • Temporary office help for peak times and discretionary caretaking help
    • Special events
    • Supplies, additional/replacement furniture and equipment, and repairs
    • Postage
    • All telephone expenses
    • Community relations and marketing
    • Any other discretionary expenses related to the office

General Per Pupil Allocation

Regular Schools:

The general per pupil allocation is $90.72 per pupil for Elementary and $133.65 per pupil for Secondary. 

  • This allocation is intended to cover:
    • Classroom supplies (including audio visual, software, etc.)
    • Textbooks, subscriptions, etc.
    • New Furniture and equipment (including computers requested in addition to the central plan)
    • Furniture and equipment repairs and service
    • Fees for athletic events
    • Other: administration fees, field trips (charter bus and TTC trips), prizes, commencements, printing costs, internet connections, any other discretionary items

Special Education Schools:

  • Each special education school has different programs so the general per pupil allocation varies from school to school.

Library Allocation

The library allocation is $14.25 per pupil for Elementary and $19.35 per pupil for Secondary.

School Office Allocation

  • The school office allocation is $17.57 per Elementary pupil and $23.71 per pupil for Secondary. 

  • This allocation covers:
    • Photocopier costs
    • Temporary office help for peak times and discretionary caretaking
    • Special events
    • Supplies, additional/replacement furniture and equipment, and repairs
    • Postage
    • All telephone expenses, including monthly charges, repairs, moves, line changes, etc.
    • Community relations and marketing
    • Any other discretionary expenses related to the office

School Council Allocation

  • The school council allocation is $1.25 per pupil for school council related costs such as photocopying, supplies and meetings.
  • The allocation is set at no less than $300 per school and no greater than $1000 per school.

See link for School Council Funding

Professional Development

  • A professional development allocation of $5 per pupil enables school staff to participate in professional development programs outside of the TDSB.
  • These funds are to be used to address conference registration fees, travel, PA Day expenses, membership fees, and occasional teacher costs, if required.

Learning Opportunity Grant

  • The Learning Opportunity Index (LOI) ranks schools according to level of need to ensure that appropriate allocations are made.

  • The LOI combines information from the following variables:
    • Median income
    • Average or mean income
    • Lone-parent families
    • Housing
    • Education
    • Immigration
    • Student Mobility
  • The LOI is applied to the school's enrollment to establish its weighted enrollment. The weighted enrollment is then multiplied by $15 for Elementary and $8 for Secondary to determine the allocation.

Student Financial Assistance

Student financial assistance applies to Secondary schools only. This allocation replaces the bursary program that was available in legacy Boards. The LOI is applied to the corresponding school's enrollment to establish the school's weighted enrollment. The weighted enrollment is then multiplied by $13 for Secondary to derive the student financial assistance allocation.

Program Supplements

  • Supplementary allocations are provided to schools that offer certain higher cost programs. 
  • These funds are not intended to define the extent of funding to a specific program.
    • Secondary Instrumental Music @ $45 per credit
    • Secondary Arts @ $13.50 per credit
    • Secondary Family Studies @ $27 per credit
    • French Immersion @ $13.50 per pupil
    • Middle School Supplement ($36.10/grade 678)
  • The special education teacher supplement is based on the number of special education teachers in resource withdrawal and self-contained classes.
  • These funds are for special education only.

Technical Education Program Supplement

  • Actual October 31 credit information using a one-year lag is used to calculate credit supplement.
  • The model introduces 6 categories of funding based on the percentage of technical education credits delivered by schools in relation to total credits delivered.
  • The program supplements for technical education among secondary schools are provided to the following credit courses: Construction Tech (TCJ), Technology Design (TDJ), Computer Engineering Tech (TEE), Hospitality Tech (TFJ), Communication (TGJ), Manufacturing Tech (TMJ), Personal Services (TPJ), Integrated Technologies (TTI) and Transportation Tech (TTJ).

Special Allocation

Supplements are provided to:

  • International Baccalaureate program

New Classroom Funding

  • Additional funding of $3,000 is provided to schools that experience growth to help address classroom setup requirements.
  • The allocation is based on the addition of new teachers as a result of a minimum enrollment increase:
New Classroom Staff Increase Enrollment Increase
Full Day Kindergarten 1 Teacher & 1 ECE 26 FTE
Primary Class (JK/SK) 0.5 Teacher 20 Head Count
Primary Class (Grades 1-3) 1 Teacher 20 FTE
Elementary (Grades 4-8) 1 Teacher 23.4 FTE
Secondary 1 Teacher 21 FTE


The allocation is based on a school’s current year October 31st enrollment and teachers over the prior year October 31st data.