The Halton District School Board's account for education development charges ended the 2025-26 school year $33.8 million in deficit. These charges are fees that new homes and businesses in Burlington and the rest of Halton pay to help the public board buy land for new schools. The account opened the year on Sept. 1, 2025, only $1.9 million in the red.
Land buying drove the slide. The board spent $52.5 million buying school sites at several locations across Halton, more than twice what the charges brought in, and its report puts all site-acquisition-related spending for the year at $55.8 million.
The charges collected $23.8 million across the region, $1.2 million of it from non-residential projects such as shops, offices and industry. New homes in Burlington paid $1.8 million, and non-residential development in the city paid $83,246. Oakville homes paid $9.4 million, more than five times Burlington's residential total.
The charges are set by a board by-law, a local rule the trustees pass under provincial law. The current one, approved May 17, 2023, runs until May 31, 2028, and is the seventh the board has passed since it qualified to collect the charges in 1996. The charge on a new home can climb by no more than 5% or $300 per unit a year, whichever is greater.
Trustees get the board's 2025-26 annual statement on the charges at a special meeting on Thursday, Nov. 12. The board called that meeting to finish compliance and governance items before the trustees' term ends.
