Municipal Taxes and Direction of School Support
As a property owner or tenant in Ontario, you are required to support a school system through your municipal taxes, even if you do not have children or your children are not currently attending school.
As per legislation, your school support defaults to the English Public school board. Within the Counties of Norfolk, Brant, Haldimand, or the City of Brantford, this is the Grand Erie District School Board.
Property owners and tenants in Ontario can change which school board they support through their property taxes. If support for another school board has been previously selected, you can change that selection to Grand Erie.
In addition to supporting the board that best reflects your educational preferences, you will be able to vote in the next municipal election for trustees for the school board that you support.
You’ll find information about which school board your property taxes support on your Property Assessment Notice from MPAC – the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation.
Criteria for changing school board support
In order to change your school board support, you must meet the following criteria:
- You must own or lease a property.
- You may direct school support to only one of the boards operating in your municipality. Note that not all school boards are available in all municipalities.
- If you own or lease more than one property in a school board jurisdiction, all properties must support the same school board.
How to change your school board support to Grand Erie
You can make changes directly on the MPAC website. The links below will take you there. To get started, select the option below that applies to you:
A guide is available to assist users with how to navigate changing their school support designation online: English | French
Alternatively you can download and/or print the Application for Direction of School Support (English | French) form.
Complete the form and send the completed form to MPAC by mail or email.