School Support Designation

In Ontario, every property, whether owned or rented, is linked to a school board even if you don’t have children or your children aren’t currently attending school. This is called your school support designation.

The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) keeps track of designations for all properties. 

Your designation determines which school board trustee you can vote for in a municipal election. Property owners and tenants can designate support for one of the following boards:

• English Public (default)
• French Public
• English Separate (Catholic)
• French Separate (Catholic)

By default, your school support designation is set to the English Public school board. If you wish to vote for a different school board, you must update your designation before June 1, 2026 for the change to be reflected in the 2026 Municipal Election.

Steps for completing this process are outlined further down on this page.

The Township of Muskoka Lakes is served by two publicly funded school boards:

Trillium Lakelands District School Board (TLDSB)

• • • Serves all of Muskoka, as well as the City of Kawartha Lakes and Haliburton County.
    • Operates public (non‑Catholic) elementary and secondary schools across the region.
    • Visit the TLDSB Website

Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board (SMCDSB)

• • • Serves Muskoka and Simcoe County.
    • Operates Catholic elementary and secondary schools, with Muskoka Catholic schools located mainly in Bracebridge and Huntsville.
    • Visit the SMCDSB Website

These are the boards you may designate as your school support designation and whose trustee elections you may vote in during municipal elections.