Montreal School Service Center

What Montreal School Service Center does

The Centre de services scolaire de Montréal (CSSDM) is Quebec's largest public school service center, operating 185 educational establishments — including 121 regular primary schools, 24 regular secondary schools, 3 combined schools, 9 vocational training centers, 15 adult education centers, and 8 specialized schools for students with disabilities (EHDAA) — across 18 Montreal neighborhoods. Founded in 1846 as the Commission des écoles catholiques de Montréal and renamed to its current form following the 2020 provincial education governance reforms, CSSDM serves between 113,939 and 117,626 students and employs 18,265 to 20,557 staff, making it the largest francophone school network in Quebec. It delivers the full K-12 public education continuum plus adult education, vocational training (80+ programs across 13 economic sectors), French language integration for newly arrived immigrants (7,450 reception students), and specialized services for students with disabilities or giftedness.

CSSDM's service delivery is supported by a technology ecosystem including the Mozaïk Portail student information system (developed by GRICS, on whose board CSSDM Deputy DG Jean Ouimet serves), Clic école for school communication, Mon service Traiteur for cafeteria meal ordering, Microsoft 365 and Azure for productivity and cloud infrastructure, and the Atlas recruitment platform. The 2026-2027 operating budget of $1,704,017,702 CAD is funded approximately 60% by Quebec Ministry of Education (MEQ) subsidies, with the balance from school taxes administered by the Comité de gestion de la taxe scolaire de l'île de Montréal (CGTSIM), supplemented by specific activity revenue and investment income. Education is free for Quebec residents in regular preschool, primary, and secondary programs; international students in vocational training pay per-program tuition disclosed via the admission portal. Distribution is direct-to-consumer through district catchment areas, open enrollment (libre choix), specialized programs, vocational training schools, adult education centers, and a dedicated new-arrival service. CSSDM does not operate as a commercial entity — it is a legislatively mandated public monopoly under the Quebec Loi sur l'instruction publique with effectively zero customer churn risk and revenue entirely exposed to provincial government funding decisions.

Name

Montreal School Service Center

Legal name

Centre de services scolaire de Montréal

Website

https://cssdm.gouv.qc.ca

Company type

Private

Founded year

1846

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

5,001–10,000 employees

Short description

The Centre de services scolaire de Montréal (CSSDM) is Quebec's largest public school service center, operating 185 schools and centers serving over 113,000 students across 18 Montreal neighborhoods with a $1.7B CAD budget, delivering free K-12 education, vocational training, adult education, and newcomer integration services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Public K-12 Education

NAICS

Elementary and Secondary Schools (6111), Educational Support Services (611710), Educational Services (611)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Child Day Care Services (8351)

akta.pro primary industry

District Student Services Administration (Special Ed, Counseling, Health) (EDADABAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Early Childhood Development (ECD) & Pre-Primary Education (BPADAKAB), Specialized Inclusive / Co-Taught Special Education Programs (EDAKAAAK)

Keywords

• Public K-12 education
• Vocational training services
• Adult education programs
• Special education services
• School district management

Headquarters

HQ city

Montréal

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Ministry of Education Subsidies (MEQ): Government subsidies from the Ministry of Education (MEQ) constitute approximately 60% of total revenue, providing funding for educational operations, staff salaries, and infrastructure maintenance.
2. School Taxes: School taxes collected on all taxable properties, managed by the Comité de gestion de la taxe scolaire de l'île de Montréal (CGTSIM). Revenue used for equipment maintenance, building upkeep, energy consumption, school transportation, and administrative costs.
3. Specific Activity Revenues: Revenues from extracurricular activities, training support activities, teaching and training activities, parascolaire activities, administrative activities, and real estate activities.
4. Investment Revenue: Debt service payments from MEQ financing for capital investments and construction projects.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Centre de services scolaire de Montréal (CSSDM) is a public educational institution that organizes and delivers free public education from preschool through adult education across a network of 185 schools and centers in Montreal. Its offerings include preschool (ages 4-5), primary education, secondary education, vocational training (DEP/ASP), adult education (FGA), French language integration for newcomers, and specialized schools for students with disabilities (EHDAA).

Product overview

The Centre de services scolaire de Montréal (CSSDM) is a public educational institution that organizes educational services across 185 schools and training centers serving 113,939 students. Rather than a commercial product company, CSSDM provides educational programs and administrative services including preschool, primary, secondary, specialized schools, vocational training, adult education, and continuing education. The organization operates digital platforms for student information (Mozaïk Portail), communication (Microsoft 365, Teams), and school finder tools.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Preschool Education (Préscolaire)

Named customers7 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered notable and core.

• Conservatoire d'art dramatique de MontréalnotableStrategic or Co-development Partner · 26 September 2025A new partnership announced September 26, 2025, with the Conservatoire d'art dramatique de Montréal to provide innovative theatrical arts education opportunities for CSSDM students.
• Fondation pour les élèves de MontréalnotableStrategic or Co-development PartnerFoundation supporting Montreal students through fundraising and educational initiatives. Located at 5100 Sherbrooke Est, local 180, Montreal. Website: fondationelevesmtl.ca
• Comité de gestion de la taxe scolaire de l'île de Montréal (CGTSIM)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerManages collection and administration of school taxes on behalf of Montreal school service centers. Handles debt service payments and investment revenue for CSSDM infrastructure projects.
• GRICS (Groupe de recherche et d'innovation pour la coopération scolaire)coreTechnology or IntegrationQuebec education technology organization developing the Mozaïk Portail student information system used by CSSDM. Jean Ouimet, CSSDM Deputy Director General, serves on GRICS board of directors.
• Ministry of Education of Quebec (MEQ)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPrimary government funder providing approximately 60% of CSSDM revenue through subsidies. Sets educational policy, curriculum standards, and regulatory framework for all Quebec school service centers.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Toronto District School Board: Canada's largest school board (~240,000 students) operating under Ontario's Education Act; functionally analogous urban public school system with comparable preschool-to-adult program breadth, useful for North-American public-school benchmarks.
• New York City Department of Education: Largest municipal school system in North America (~1M students); operates as a government entity analogous to CSSDM in providing universal public education across a major metropolitan area, with similar newcomer/reception-class structures.
• Vancouver School Board: British Columbia's largest urban public school district; comparable in scope of services, government funding model, and multilingual newcomer programs though operating under different provincial legislation.

Regional players

• Commission scolaire Lester-B.-Pearson / LBPSB: Quebec English-language public school board covering the West Island and other Greater Montréal areas; comparable in scale and service mix to CSSDM but serving a different language community within the same metropolitan region.
• Centre de services scolaire de Laval: Quebec francophone school service center covering the Island of Laval adjacent to Montréal; operates under identical governance and funding rules and offers a meaningful peer benchmark for per-student cost, vocational programs, and adult education scale.

Direct peers

• Centre de services scolaire de la Pointe-de-l'Île: Quebec francophone school service center covering eastern Montréal Island (Montréal-Est, Anjou, Saint-Léonard, etc.); shares the same governance structure, MEQ funding model, and service portfolio as CSSDM.
• English Montreal School Board (EMSB): The English-language public school board serving the same Montreal Island territory; offers an apples-to-apples comparison for student demographics, funding structure, and operational scale on the linguistic counterpart side.
• Centre de services scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys: Another large Quebec francophone school service center serving the West Island and western parts of the Island of Montréal with a similar mix of preschool, primary, secondary, vocational, and adult education; operates as the most direct functional equivalent to CSSDM under the same Loi sur l'instruction publique framework.

Others

• Cégep du Vieux Montréal: Québec public college (post-secondary) that receives the CSSDM secondary graduates for continuing education; relevant as a downstream consumer of CSSDM's outputs and as a comparator for Quebec's publicly funded education ecosystem.
• Stratélys / GRICS: Quebec education-technology consortium that builds Mozaïk Portail, the student information system used by CSSDM and most other Quebec school service centers; relevant as an enabling technology peer given CSSDM's deep operational dependency on the platform.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/Centre.de.services.scolaire.de.Montreal
• Xx.com/cssdemontreal

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Montreal School Service Center