Manitoba Saskatchewan Homeschool Funding: $0 vs. It Depends
Two neighboring provinces land on opposite answers to the same question. Here’s what each one actually pays.
Manitoba pays homeschoolers nothing, by explicit policy. Saskatchewan pays real money, but how much depends entirely on which of dozens of school divisions your family is registered with.
- Manitoba provides zero provincial funding for homeschooling. The province’s own FAQ states it directly: “No. Provincial funding is not available to families who homeschool.” There’s no registration fee either, so it’s a free-to-register, unfunded system.
- Manitoba’s one narrow exception is the Manitoba Métis Federation’s Homeschool Support Program, for Métis families specifically, not government funding and not open to everyone.
- Saskatchewan does fund homeschooling, but locally. Each school division sets its own amount. Regina Public Schools pays $800/year for elementary students and $550 for high schoolers in 2026–27, restricted to educational materials.
- Register late in Saskatchewan, after your division’s deadline, typically mid-August to September 15, and you forfeit that year’s funding, even though you can still homeschool.
- Both provinces run a free online public-school option (InformNet/TMO in Manitoba, the Saskatchewan Distance Learning Corporation) that isn’t the same as homeschooling but is worth knowing about as an alternative.
Section 01The Short Answer
Manitoba homeschooling runs through the Public Schools Act, administered by the province’s Homeschooling Office, with families assigned a Liaison Officer. New homeschoolers notify within 30 days of starting; continuing families notify by September 1 each year, with progress reports due January 31 and June 30, covering Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies as required core subjects.
On funding, Manitoba doesn’t hedge. Its own homeschool funding FAQ says it plainly: “No. Provincial funding is not available to families who homeschool.” Specialized services like speech-language therapy, occupational therapy, or psycho-educational assessments are explicitly the parent’s responsibility, not something the province provides or subsidizes. There’s no registration fee to homeschool in Manitoba either, so this isn’t a system that charges you to opt out and then also declines to fund you. It’s genuinely free to register and genuinely unfunded once you do.
Section 02Manitoba’s one narrow exception
The one real source of support sitting outside government funding is the Manitoba Métis Federation’s Homeschool Support Program, launched in September 2020 for Métis families specifically. It offers school-supply hampers, tutoring, certified-teacher-led online core-subject classes, and funding for high schoolers taking accredited Independent Study Option courses. No dollar figures are published for what the program actually pays out, and it’s restricted to Métis families, not a general homeschool benefit. If that describes your family, it’s worth looking into directly. For everyone else in Manitoba, the honest picture is the one above: no funding, full stop.
Section 03Saskatchewan: funding exists, but set by your school division
Saskatchewan works structurally differently from every other province we’ve covered in this series. Homeschooling is registered and administered locally, by your family’s school division, not centrally by the Ministry of Education. That single fact explains almost everything else about how funding works there.
You submit a Notice of Intent and Registration form plus a written Educational Plan directly to your local division. Deadlines vary by division but cluster between mid-August and September 15 for funding eligibility. Late registration is still allowed, up to May 31, but it forfeits that year’s funding entirely. An annual education plan and year-end progress report are required regardless of funding status.
Section 04What Saskatchewan actually pays, where we could confirm it
Because funding is set division by division, there’s no single Saskatchewan number the way Alberta has one. The clearest, most current figure we could confirm directly from an official source: Regina Public Schools pays $800.00 per elementary student and $550.00 per high school student for the 2026–27 school year, restricted to the purchase of educational materials, disbursed at the end of January 2027, contingent on registering by September 15, 2026 and staying enrolled through the distribution date.
Other divisions, including Saskatoon Public Schools, Prairie South, Living Sky, Northeast School Division, and South East Cornerstone, all confirmably run some form of reimbursement or grant mechanism, dedicated forms, disbursement schedules, the works, but we couldn’t extract exact dollar amounts for any of them from a document we could verify directly. If you’ve seen a specific figure quoted for one of these divisions elsewhere online, treat it with caution unless it links to that division’s own page. We found inconsistent, unofficial numbers circulating for some of these that we chose not to repeat here.
Section 05The free online-school alternative in both provinces
Neither province offers a BC-style Distributed Learning system where funding flows to a school and homeschoolers get a resource budget through it, but both have a real, free, publicly funded online-school option that’s worth knowing about as a different path entirely, not a funding source for homeschooling itself.
In Manitoba, InformNet and the Teacher Mediated Option are provincially run remote high school courses, grades 9 through 12, taught by certified teachers, explicitly open to registered homeschoolers on a course-by-course basis. A separate option, Web-Based Courses, requires the student to already be enrolled in a Manitoba school and isn’t available to homeschoolers at all.
Saskatchewan’s version is bigger and newer: the Saskatchewan Distance Learning Corporation, a provincial Crown corporation created in December 2022, offering free K-12 online education to any Saskatchewan student, with $23 million allocated for its 2023–24 startup and operating year. By September 2024 it had grown past 6,500 students combined, full-time and part-time. A student taking just one or two Sask DLC courses can still be classified as home-based; a student enrolled full-time becomes a Sask DLC student instead, which is conceptually the same funding-to-the-school model BC’s Distributed Learning system uses, even though Saskatchewan doesn’t badge it that way.
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Section 06Frequently asked questions
Does Manitoba give homeschool families any money?
No. Manitoba’s own policy states directly that provincial funding is not available to families who homeschool. There’s also no fee to register, so the system is free but entirely unfunded.
Is there any funding for homeschoolers in Manitoba at all?
The one exception is the Manitoba Métis Federation’s Homeschool Support Program, which offers supplies, tutoring, and course funding to Métis families specifically. It isn’t government funding and isn’t available to homeschooling families generally.
Does Saskatchewan fund homeschooling?
Yes, but the amount is set by your local school division, not the province as a whole. Regina Public Schools pays $800 per elementary student and $550 per high school student for 2026–27, restricted to educational materials.
How much does Saskatchewan pay homeschoolers?
It varies by division. Regina’s confirmed 2026–27 figures are $800 (elementary) and $550 (high school). Several other divisions offer reimbursement too, but exact current amounts weren’t available from a source we could verify for this guide. Confirm directly with your own division.
What happens if I register late in Saskatchewan?
You can still homeschool, registration is generally accepted up to May 31, but registering after your division’s deadline, typically mid-August to September 15, forfeits that year’s funding.
Is Saskatchewan’s Distance Learning Corporation the same as homeschooling?
Not quite. Taking one or two Sask DLC courses can still count as home-based education, but enrolling full-time makes your child a Sask DLC student instead, a separate, publicly funded online school rather than homeschooling itself.
✓ Verified August 2026
