Does the school tax on my Port Moody bill go to SD43?

It doesn't. The school tax line is set by the province ("Each year the province sets the residential school tax rate for each school district") and it flows into provincial general revenue. SD43 runs on a separate provincial per-student operating grant.

Can a school trustee raise or lower my property taxes?

No. A school board in BC has no taxing power. The province sets the school tax rate each year, so raising or cutting your taxes isn't something a trustee can do.

Can the board just run a deficit to fund more classrooms?

It can't. BC's School Act requires a balanced budget by June 30 each year. Boards that passed deficit budgets, like Cowichan Valley in 2012, have been removed by the province.

How big is SD43's budget, and where does most of it go?

The 2025-26 budget bylaw is about $530.3 million. In 2024-25 about 84.8% of operating spending went to Instruction and about 4.4% to administration, both roughly in line with or better than the provincial average.

Is SD43 sitting on a big pile of cash?

Not a spendable one. Most of that roughly $280 million accumulated surplus is buildings and land. The part that's actual operating money, about $53.7 million at June 30, 2025, was entirely tied up for named purposes like carryforwards and stabilization reserves.

Why do developers pay so little toward new schools?

The School Site Acquisition Charge is capped by the BC government and has been frozen since 2000, from $1,000 per unit at low density down to $600 per unit for the densest projects (regulation). The board sets the charge but cannot exceed the cap.

Where Does SD43's Money Come From?

The province funds the district, one student at a time

Almost all of SD43's money is one provincial operating grant paid per student, and the province decides how much arrives. For 2024-25 the core operating grant came to about $372.6 million in audited actuals, and provincial grants of all kinds totalled about $444.8 million.

Add tuition, rentals, and investment income and SD43's 2024-25 amended budget came to about $511 million in revenue. The budget bylaw the board adopted on February 10, 2026 set the 2025-26 total at about $530.3 million. For scale, that is more than three times the City of Port Moody's entire annual budget, operating and capital combined.

The school tax on your bill goes to the province, not SD43

Where the money actually flows

The school tax you pay and the money SD43 runs on move through completely separate channels.

That school tax line on your Port Moody bill is set by the province ("Each year the province sets the residential school tax rate for each school district") and goes into provincial general revenue, and the board plays no part in the rate or the proceeds. It is not a small line either: in the City's 2026 rate schedule the school rate works out to about 26% of a residential tax bill. So if you ever hear that a board budget vote is going to change your property tax bill, that's worth a second look.

The board is legally forbidden from running a deficit

A BC board has to balance its budget. The School Act says spending cannot exceed revenue and the budget has to pass by June 30 every year. Break the rule and the province can fire the whole board and install a single appointed trustee, which has happened twice now. Vancouver's board was fired in 2016 during a budget standoff, and Cowichan Valley's went in 2012 after passing a deficit budget.

So the board's actual work happens in deciding how the money it receives gets spent.

What the board actually controls

Where SD43's operating budget went, 2024-25

Instruction (classrooms, teachers, supports)84.8%

District administration4.4%

Everything else (operations, maintenance, transport)10.8%

BC averages: 83.0% instruction, 4.2% administration. SD43 runs slightly leaner on the office side than the typical district.

A trustee's vote moves the allocation choices inside the grant, so it's about how the money already coming in gets divided up, not how big the grant is or what shows up on your tax bill.

Where the money goes. The board decides how the operating grant is split across schools, programs, and administration, and the chart above shows where that landed in 2024-25.
Admin structure. How the district organizes its administration is a board budget choice. The audited actual for District Administration in 2024-25 was about $18.2 million, which came in about $3.0 million under the amended budget of $21.3 million.
Reserves. The board decides by public motion how much operating surplus to hold and how to restrict it. At June 30, 2025 the operating fund surplus was about $53.7 million, and all of it was internally restricted for named uses such as school carryforwards, stabilization reserves, and multi-year budget set-asides. The larger accumulated surplus of about $280 million is mostly the value of buildings and land, not spendable cash.
International tuition. This is money the board raises itself and decides how to use. In 2024-25 international and out-of-province tuition brought in about $23.4 million. That is well below the roughly $37.8 million the program brought in at its 2017-18 peak.
The school site charge. The board sets the School Site Acquisition Charge, a per-unit developer fee toward school land, within provincial caps that have been frozen since 2000. The fund held about $18.9 million at June 30, 2025, against roughly $163 million of school land in the district's newest plan, so the charge covers barely a tenth of the land bill. How those caps squeeze a densifying Port Moody is covered on why schools open full.

When to speak up about the budget

SD43 runs its budget on a July-to-June cycle, so the moments where the public gets a say land in the same months every year. February's budget input meeting is the earliest chance to weigh in, before next year's numbers are set, and the exact dates shift a little each year.

The budget year, for parents

FebruaryBudget input meeting, plus the board amends the current year's budget.
April (early)Preliminary budget for next year is presented, followed by a public feedback session.
April (late)Next year's budget is adopted. In 2026 that was April 28.
SeptemberThe prior year's audited financial statements are approved and filed with the province.

How SD43 compares on funding

The per-student formula does not treat every district the same. The whole of SD43 from Coquitlam to Belcarra sits near the bottom: by the district's own account it has "historically ranked in the bottom 10 for per-student funding levels among the 60 school districts" in the province. Its budget guide explains why. The formula gives funding protection to districts with shrinking enrolment and growing districts are funded less to make up the difference. Pushing the province on that formula is the main fight a local trustee has.