City School Districts

Tolmie School, Victoria

Beginning in 1884, the more populous centres of the province were classified as City School Districts. An amendment to the School Act in 1888 required the school boards of Victoria, Nanaimo, New Westminster and Vancouver to pay one-third of the cost of teachers' salaries; under the 1891 Public School Act, city school boards were required to defray half the cost of salaries and the total costs of school sites, buildings, repairs, and incidental expenses.

A new system of school funding, based on per capita grants, was introduced in 1901, at which time urban centres were classified into "Cities" of the "lst, 2nd, and 3rd Class" for school purposes. Methods of apportioning grants were revised in 1905, but the tripartite classification was retained.

This section consists of a list of City School Districts established in the province between 1884 and 1946. A date shown in parentheses indicates when a school was first opened in the district or when the district was first defined.

Researchers should note that City School Districts usually embraced a number of individual schools, including elementary, superior, junior high and high schools. For the present, in order to identify particular schools within a city school district (other than Victoria (S.D. 61)), researchers will have to consult the Annual Reports of the Public Schools.

Additional information about city schools (e.g. the precise locations of individual schools, details of school construction, etc.) may be available from School District offices.