Ontario Teacher Salaries: Highest-Paid Teachers by School Board (2025)

Based on the 2025 Sunshine List · 92,614 teachers disclosed

Teaching is the single largest profession on Ontario's Sunshine List. In 2025, 92,614 classroom teachers earned over the $100,000 disclosure threshold, collectively paid $11,038,750,082. The average teacher salary on the list is $119,191; the median is $118,059. The threshold has been frozen at $100,000 since 1996, which means the count rises every year purely because of grid step-ups and inflation — not because teaching pay has ballooned.

The single highest-paid teacher in 2025 is Gorian Surlan, Teacher, Elementary at Toronto District School Board, at $256,899. Top-of-grid teachers with extra qualifications, doubled-up department headships, or seconded union roles routinely cross $200K — well above the typical $119,191 average. The largest board on the list is Toronto District School Board with 9,976 disclosed teachers.

Top 25 Highest-Paid Teachers (2025)

Largest School Boards by Teacher Count

The size of a board on the Sunshine List roughly tracks its enrolment, but secondary boards skew slightly higher in average pay because secondary teachers tend to be further along the grid. Toronto's public and Catholic boards are the two largest single employers of teachers on the list, followed by the GTA-411 suburbs.

Common Teacher Titles

Job titles vary by board — "Elementary Teacher" in one district shows up as "Teacher, Elementary" or just "Teacher" in another. Once these are normalized, the average pay across titles is roughly flat, with secondary teachers earning slightly more on average than elementary teachers due to higher representation at the top of the grid.

Why So Many Teachers Are on the List

The $100,000 disclosure threshold has been frozen since the Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act, 1996. In 1996 dollars, $100K was an executive's salary — well above any teacher's pay. In today's dollars, after thirty years of inflation, $100K is closer to what a top-of-grid Ontario teacher with five years of experience makes. That's why the teaching profession dominates the list numerically, even though individual teachers have not seen unusual pay increases relative to inflation.