Ontario Regulation 320/26, Honoraria for Board Members, establishes a revised framework for compensating district school board members, including chairs and vice-chairs. Made under the Education Act, the regulation introduces a $9,000 cap on the standard annual honorarium, establishes additional payments for leadership positions, and requires greater public disclosure of board members’ compensation. It also revokes Ontario Regulation 357/06, replacing the previous framework with new rules for determining, publishing, and reducing honoraria.

The regulation defines a year of a board member’s term of office as the period beginning November 15 and ending November 14 of the following year. For the 2025–2026 year, district school boards must pay members according to the amounts that would have been determined under the former regulation and the board’s policy as they stood on September 21, 2026. This provision preserves the existing compensation arrangements for the year ending November 14, 2026, before the new framework takes effect for subsequent terms.

For terms beginning November 15, 2026, or later, the regulation establishes a new method for calculating annual honoraria. Each board member, including the chair and vice-chair, is entitled to an amount equal to the lesser of $9,000 or the combined base and enrolment amounts determined for the board’s members for the 2025–2026 year under the previous regulation and applicable board policy. The chair receives an additional $1,000, while the vice-chair receives an additional $500. These provisions establish a maximum standard honorarium while retaining a link to each board’s previously determined compensation structure.

Special rules apply to district school boards that were subject to, or deemed subject to, a vesting order under the Education Act as of September 21, 2026. For these boards, the reference amount used in the calculation is based on the applicable base and enrolment amounts immediately before the relevant vesting order was made. This provision accounts for boards operating under the Act’s vesting-order framework.

The regulation also introduces specific transparency requirements. By October 15 in the year a term begins, each district school board must establish a policy specifying the honoraria payable to its members, chair, and vice-chair during that term. The board must publish this policy on its website. Furthermore, by November 16 each year, boards must publish the honorarium paid to each member during the preceding year of the member’s term. These annual disclosures must remain available online for the duration of the member’s term.

Ontario (320/2026) October 20, 2026
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