This is in response to a number of Letters to the Editor defending public funding of Catholic schools under the misguided notion that Catholics and only Catholics can choose to fund it through their property taxes. Please get the word out, that that is NOT how it works. There is only one single pool of funds from which allotments are made.

Specifically, from our friends at Civil Rights in Public Education (CRIPE) - more information on tax laws on this issue are available here :

“Provincial Funding and Property Taxes: Before student-focused funding, school boards raised revenue through local property taxes. Each school board could decide whether or not to increase local property taxes and, if so, by how much. Municipalities collected the taxes on behalf of the school boards. School boards also received funding from the provincial government.In 1998, the government changed the way in which property tax revenue supports education. The government now sets a uniform rate, based on a current-value assessment system, for all residential properties. Residential property taxes for education were reduced by half province-wide. The government also sets property tax rates for business properties. Since 1998, the government has introduced further reductions in residential and business property taxes for education. Property taxes still support education and municipalities still collect these taxes for the school boards in their communities, but school boards no longer raise additional revenue from local property taxes. Student-focused funding determines each board’s overall funding allocation. Property tax revenues provide a part of the allocation. The province provides additional funding up to the level set by student- focused funding.”