If you are researching how to open a private school in Ontario, you will run into the term "BSID" quickly, and it is often misunderstood. Here is exactly what it is.
This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm the current process with the Ontario Ministry of Education.
The short answer
BSID stands for Board/School Identification number. It is the official identifier the Ontario Ministry of Education assigns to your school. Once your private school is registered with the Ministry, your BSID is how the Ministry, and Ontario's education systems, recognize your school.
Think of it as your school's registration number: it proves the Ministry knows your school exists and has accepted your paperwork.
How you get a BSID
You get a BSID by filing a Notice of Intention (NOI) to operate a private school with the Ministry of Education. When your notice is accepted, the Ministry issues the BSID.
The NOI is filed on the Ministry's annual schedule, so timing matters, confirm the current deadline on ontario.ca before you plan around a launch date. This is the first formal step in starting a private school in Ontario.
The myth: a BSID does not let you grant OSSD credits
This is the single most important thing to understand, because it is where founders most often go wrong.
Having a BSID does not mean your school can grant credits toward the Ontario Secondary School Diploma. A registered private school with a BSID is recognized by the Ministry, but a newly registered school cannot grant OSSD credits.
To grant credits, a private secondary school has to take a further step: apply for a Ministry inspection and be granted credit-granting authority. Schools that pass are called inspected private schools. Only inspected schools can grant OSSD credits. You can read how that works in our explainer on whether a private school can grant OSSD credits.
So the sequence is:
- File your Notice of Intention → receive your BSID (registered).
- Build your courses, staff, records, and policies.
- Pass a Ministry inspection → gain credit-granting authority (inspected).
A BSID is step one, not the finish line.
Why the distinction matters for online schools
For an online school, the gap between "registered" and "inspected" is where credibility is won or lost. Families and agents will ask whether your credits count toward the OSSD. The honest, defensible answer only exists once you are an inspected school, and getting there means your course content, teaching, and records are genuinely built to Ministry standard, not just launched behind a BSID.
That is exactly what SchoolConex provides under your brand: the platform, OSSD-aligned courses, Ontario teacher support, and inspection-ready operations that turn a registered school into a credit-granting one. If you are mapping out the path, a 30-minute walkthrough is the fastest way to see it.