Aurora – June 18, 2025 -- At its June 17 Board meeting, York Region District School Board passed a balanced 2025-2026 budget.
The balanced $1,770.2 million budget reflects priorities and feedback shared through public consultation results and advisory committees. The areas of focus include healthy and safe learning environments, classroom-based support staff, mental health and student well-being and education technology to enhance student learning .
“As we developed the 2025-2026 budget, the Board sought the input of students, families, staff and community members,” said Ron Lynn, Chair of the Board. “This feedback, along with input from advisory committees and various stakeholders, played an important role in allocating the budget. I would like to thank staff, families and members of the community and the Finance and Property Committee members for the collaborative effort.”
“The 2025–2026 budget reflects the Board’s ongoing commitment to prioritizing areas that matter most to YRDSB students, families, staff and community-priorities that were identified through the consultation process,” said Trustee Butterworth, Chair of the Finance and Property Committee.
Despite ongoing financial pressures, the 2025–2026 budget allocates resources to sustaining support in several high-priority areas as identified through the consultation process.
- Healthy and Safe Learning Environment for All: $518K allocated through the Critical Physical Security Infrastructure (CPSI) to improve physical security; Supporting secure entry systems, surveillance and emergency response infrastructure.
- Classroom-Based Support Staff: Increased Empower Reading Teachers from 27.0 FTE to 28.2 FTE, supporting students with significant reading difficulties; Investing $3.6M in Elementary Primary Literacy Teachers and $564K allocated for Math Facilitators.
- Mental Health and Well-Being: Achieved $1.5M in savings by using Chromebooks in place of laptops for Specialized Equipment. Funding from these savings have been reallocated to enhance support for students’ special needs, health and well-being by funding additional social workers occupational therapists and speech-language pathologists beyond the base budget.
- Education Technology to Enhance Student Learning: Designated $1.5M in technology investment to support student devices and support initiatives in digital literacy, robotics and artificial intelligence; Allocated $250K centrally to support STEM programs, robotics, broad-based technology and other school-based technology expenses.
“We were able to deliver a balanced budget by focusing on what matters most to families - programs that directly support students,” said Bill Cober, Director of Education. “By combining investments in student programs with efficiencies in central departments we were able to deliver a budget that aligns resources to support the Board’s District Action Plan. YRDSB will continue delivering high-quality classroom programming and services that lead to greater outcomes for students.”
“Despite declining enrolment, a balanced budget was reached by identifying efficiencies in central departments while maintaining the delivery of student services,” said Vidyia Maharaj, Associate Director and Chief Financial Officer, Service Excellence. “These included reductions in centralized operating budgets, transitioning to more cost-effective technology and using the savings to support programs and services.”
York Region District School Board is the third largest school district in Ontario with over 130,000 students in 182 elementary schools and 33 secondary schools. York Region students consistently perform above average in provincial testing and the Board is one of the top achievers in Ontario. For more information about the York Region District School Board, please visit the Board website and follow YRDSB on Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn.
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Corporate Communications