Grand Erie District School Board

The Grand Erie District School Board is a school board that has legal jurisdiction over Norfolk County, Haldimand County, and Brant County in the province of Ontario, Canada. The main headquarters are in Brantford.

History

The board was formed from the amalgamation of the Norfolk Board of Education, the Brant District Board of Education, and the Haldimand Board of Education in 1996.

In 1998, under Progressive Conservative Premier Mike Harris' government, the way public schools were funded dramatically changed. Among the changes, the province replaced local boards' power to levy taxes to fund schools with a centralized system of education grants. The new regime was accompanied by a law forcing school boards to adopt balanced budgets. These changes caused school closures in the Grand Erie Board. Burford District High School closed in 2002 after eighty years in the small town, and several communities fought successfully to maintain their community-based high schools like Delhi District Secondary School.

Current projects

The school board has received permissions and funding to rebuild the Brantford Collegiate Institute, the oldest school in the city. According to the school website, the right wing of the school, built in 1910, will be completely demolished and rebuilt save for the facade and the administrative hallway. The 1963 wing will be refurbished, but not destroyed. The project is scheduled to take three school semesters and two summers, and some of the students will be...
Read More