Teachers say $750 government grant costs them extra by forcing purchases at overpriced Staples

For teachers, this is a stark reminder that a government-branded shopping portal isn’t automatically the best deal. Here’s what happened, why some prices are off and how to make sure $750 actually covers what it should.

What’s the Classroom Supplies Fund, and how does it work?

The Classroom Supplies Fund gives every elementary homeroom teacher in Ontario $750 a year to spend on classroom essentials, ordered through an online portal tied to their school-board email. The province selected Staples as the sole vendor after a competitive process, according to a statement from Education Minister Paul Calandra’s office, with the retailer reportedly bidding at about half the price of its closest competitor. Roughly 3,000 products are available, and unused funds roll over into the next school year.

The portal launched September 1, the same week many Ontario students headed back to class, and the rollout has already faced scrutiny over the province’s decision to award the $66-million program to a single vendor, The Trillium reported.

Why are some portal prices higher than in stores?

Beyond Shibata’s markers and pencil crayons, a Toronto District School Board (TDSB) teacher shared screenshots with The Trillium showing a case of paper listed at $84.49 on the portal versus $49.85 through the board’s previous supplier. Similarly, duotangs cost $0.96 each instead of $0.38, while a package of 20 notebooks cost $35.63 instead of $17.25. “We are being absolutely swindled,” the teacher, who wasn’t named, wrote in an email.

Calandra says the comparisons are missing the point: the portal also includes a list of more than 200 “priority products” that teachers identified as classroom essentials, priced lower than anywhere else. His example: pens that run about $8 on the public-facing Staples website cost $0.81 through that priority list. The problem, he said, is that the portal also shows the full Staples catalogue at regular retail pricing, and the discounted list isn’t easy to find. The government says it’s working to make the cheaper products more visible and to expand the priority list based on teacher feedback.

How this impacts a teacher’s wallet

The fund was designed to stop teachers from covering classroom costs themselves; Ontario’s finance minister said as much when the program was announced, noting many teachers had been paying out of pocket. But if a teacher unknowingly orders from the general catalogue instead of the discounted list, the $750 stretches a lot less far than it should — and could push some teachers back toward spending their own money, which is exactly what the program was meant to prevent.

Because unused funds roll over, there’s no rush to spend the full amount before a deadline. That gives teachers room to shop carefully rather than order quickly to use up the balance.

How to make a classroom supplies allowance go further

Here are a few habits that can help stretch the $750:

• Check the priority list first: Look for the more than 200 discounted essentials before browsing the wider catalogue, since those are the prices the province says beat retail.
• Price-check before you order: Compare a portal item against the same product on Staples.ca or in-store; a quick search can catch a markup before it eats into a balance.
• Track your balance as you go: Since the fund rolls over, there’s no need to spend it all before a deadline, so smaller, spaced-out orders make it easier to catch pricing errors.
• Flag mistakes: The government has said it’s revising pricing and the priority list based on teacher reports, so raising an issue with a school board or the ministry can help fix it for other teachers too.

“It’s not meant to be perfect from day one, but it will get there,” Calandra said of the portal — which is a reasonable stance for a rocky launch, but not a reason to skip comparison shopping in the meantime.