Buyer's Guide

Catchment School and School Tax in Quebec

By Georges Matar · June 2, 2026 · 7 min read

Plenty of buyers arrive with a ready made sentence: this street is in a good school zone, so the value will follow. I will never say that sentence. No official source lets me put a number on what a school does to a house price in Montreal or Laval, and the regulation that governs my licence requires me to be able to prove the accuracy of anything I tell the public. What an address does decide, on the other hand, is precise and verifiable. Here is what, and how to check it yourself before you write an offer.

Two networks, and one word to remember: the catchment

The French public network is organized into school service centres. The English public network kept its school boards and its school elections, after the court challenges to Bill 40 were decided in favour of the English school boards.

Each organization, the Quebec government writes, is responsible for managing its territory and assigning catchment schools. A catchment is the set of streets attached to a given school. Your address falls inside one elementary catchment and one secondary catchment, and that, essentially, is what an address decides automatically.

The address gives you a default school, not a reserved seat

The Education Act gives the student, or the parents of a minor, the right to choose each year, among the schools of the school service centre, the one that best suits their preference. That right is not absolute. It is subject to the registration criteria the organization sets when the number of requests exceeds a school’s capacity, and it does not entitle anyone to transportation beyond what the organization already provides.

In practice, priority goes to students living in the catchment and to siblings already enrolled. An out of catchment request is handled according to available places. For a school outside your school service centre’s territory, a schooling agreement is required, and Quebec states plainly that re-registration in that school from one year to the next is not guaranteed.

Catchments are not carved in stone either. They get revised, capacities change, and a move during the year can force a change of school. A map you looked at in March is not a written confirmation for the school year you care about.

Public, private, and the selective programs

Three different doors exist. The public catchment school, free, assigned by address. The private school, fee paying, with its own admission criteria. And the special pedagogical projects offered inside the public network: sport-études, arts-études, international education, various concentrations. Those programs take only part of the student body, charge fees and often select.

On that last point, the rules are moving. In June 2026, the Minister of Education sent school service centres a directive, in a letter tabled in the National Assembly: starting with the 2027 school year, elementary schools will no longer be able to use academic results to select students for a special project, a profile or a concentration. At the secondary level, a joint review is to reduce or eliminate, where possible, criteria based on academic performance. If your purchase plan depends on getting into one specific program, note that an address does not freeze those admission conditions.

Eligibility for English school does not come with the house

Access to English public education is governed by the Charter of the French Language. Its section 73 provides two routes, and both require the child’s father or mother to be a Canadian citizen. First route: that parent received in English the major part of the elementary instruction they received in Canada. Second route: the child has received or is receiving in English the major part of the elementary or secondary instruction received in Canada, in which case the child’s brothers and sisters are eligible as well. Temporary authorizations exist, notably for children of foreign workers or students. The Ministry of Education renders the decision, in writing, on a request forwarded by the school organization. No address creates that eligibility.

The school tax, and what it does not pay for

Since the reform of the school taxation system, the rate is the same across all of Quebec. For 2026-2027 it is set at $0.07899 per $100 of assessment, and the exemption on the first $25,000 of taxable value is maintained. On the island of Montreal, the Comité de gestion de la taxe scolaire de l’île de Montréal collects the tax on taxable buildings located in the territory of the island’s school organizations. For how tax bills work in general, see how property taxes work.

What that tax funds, according to the school organizations themselves: maintenance and operation of equipment and buildings, heating and lighting, management of the schools, and part of school transportation. It is only a minority share of a school service centre’s revenue; the rest comes from government grants.

The part that surprises buyers most: paying your school tax does not fund the school down the street, does not reserve a seat and gives you no right over any particular building. Better still, if no child in your household is enrolled, you may choose to receive your bill from the French school service centre or from the English school board. Absent a choice, it comes from the French school service centre whose territory covers the property. That choice has no effect whatsoever on which school a child attends.

Checking a catchment yourself, in twenty minutes

Find the school organization covering the address. The public school registration page on quebec.ca leads to the right school service centre or school board.
Use that organization’s tool. The Centre de services scolaire de Montréal publishes a territory map and a directory of its schools; the Centre de services scolaire de Laval offers a Trouver son école tool searched by home address.
For English, contact the English school board directly. It has its own territories.
Confirm in writing with the school office, for the school year you need. An online tool gives an indication, the office gives an answer.
Ask whether the catchment is full this year and whether students are being redirected elsewhere.

What I will not do, and why

The Regulation respecting brokerage requirements, professional conduct of brokers and advertising is explicit. Section 4 requires a broker to offer their services without distinction, exclusion or preference based on a ground of discrimination set out in section 10 of the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, including the number or age of children. Section 5 requires verifying the information given to the public and always being able to demonstrate its accuracy. Section 83 requires advising objectively, without exaggeration, concealment or misrepresentation.

In plain terms: I do not rank schools, I do not turn a magazine ranking into a sales argument, and I never describe a neighbourhood by who lives in it. Steering a buyer by telling them who lives in an area, however well meant, directs them on grounds the Charter protects: ethnic or national origin, language, religion, social condition. What I can do is point you to the right school organization and the right questions. Judging the school is yours: visit it, meet the principal, read its educational project.

To frame the rest of the decision: Montreal neighbourhoods, Laval and the North Shore, and the newcomers' guide, which puts school registration among the first steps.

The questions to ask before you write an offer

What is the catchment school, elementary and secondary, for this exact address and for the school year in question?
Has the catchment been changed recently, or is a review under way?
Is the school at capacity? Are students being redirected?
Is school transportation offered from this address, and on what terms?
Is my child eligible for English instruction, and has the Ministry’s decision been issued in writing?
For a selective program: which admission criteria this year, what fees, what deadline?

Torn between two addresses with school in the equation? Write to me: I will get you the exact catchments and the right people to call, never a ranking.