Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 April 2017
223. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of extending the DEIS programme by 20% in addition to the new schools announced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17795/17]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that Budget 2017 allocated €5m in additional funding to the current DEIS allocation of €97m for 2017 - equivalent to a full year value of €15m. Consequently, the overall allocation by my Department for DEIS in 2017/18 will be in the region of €112m.
Accordingly, the cost to my Department of extending the DEIS programme by 20% would be in the region of €22m annually.
DEIS is my Department's main policy initiative to tackle educational disadvantage through supporting schools with the highest levels of concentrated disadvantage in their pupil cohort. The DEIS Plan for 2017 sets out our vision for future intervention in the critical policy area.
The rationale for allocating resources and supports based on a schools’ level of concentrated disadvantage is based on the existence of a ‘multiplier effect’, whereby students attending a school with a concentration of students from disadvantaged backgrounds have poorer academic outcomes, even taking account of individual social background. Research in the area of educational disadvantage indicates a strong evidence base in the Irish context that the social class mix of a school matters, providing a rationale for prioritising supports for schools which cater for high concentrations of pupils from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
In its initial application, the new identification model has identified that there are schools in disadvantaged areas, not previously included in DEIS, whose level of disadvantage is significantly higher than many schools already in the programme. Accordingly, I am moving as a first step to include these schools within the DEIS School Support Programme. It is important to note therefore that this is a first step in a process and the fact a school has not been included now does not preclude its inclusion at a later date.
Further work will be required to refine the application of the new model in terms of resource allocation. The DEIS Plan 2017 sets out details of the work that will be carried out to ultimately reach a point where the new identification model and the process of resource allocation will ensure that resources in schools are appropriately matched to the identified need within the school.
