Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 9 September 2020
174. Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin asked the Minister for Education the additional supports provided to DEIS schools by type; the overall cost of the scheme; the estimated cost to provide a 50% increase in capitation to DEIS schools by primary and post-primary; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23011/20]
View answerDEIS – Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools, is the Department’s main policy initiative aimed at tackling educational disadvantage in primary and post primary schools.
In the 2020/21 school year there are 887 schools participating in DEIS serving over 180,000 pupils. My Department will invest in the region of €125 million this year on the programme. Details of the supports available to DEIS Schools can be found at: https://www.education.ie/en/Schools-Colleges/Services/DEIS-Delivering-Equality-of-Opportunity-in-Schools-/DEIS-Supporting-Information/Supports-to-DEIS-Schools.html
The capitation grant for all schools has increased in each of the last two budgets and I am pleased that my Department has provided a further 2.5% increase in standard capitation funding for all primary and post-primary schools that will apply from the start of the 2020/21 school year. This builds on last year’s 5% increase in capitation announced in budget 2019. The combined increases given in 2019 and 2020 mean that circa 40% restoration will be achieved.
In addition to the increases above, the estimated cost of increasing the standard capitation by 50% for DEIS primary schools would be circa €10.5m and for DEIS post-primary schools would be circa €10.6m.
The Deputy may be aware that all DEIS schools receive an additional DEIS Grant which is to be used to support the implementation of the schools’ DEIS Action Plan for Improvement, which sets targets under key themes, such as attendance, retention, progression, literacy and numeracy, partnership, transition, wellbeing and examination attainment (post-primary only). A key focus of these themes is that they are targeted at those pupils most at risk of educational disadvantage. These grants comprise €12.2m to the 689 primary schools and €4.1m to the 198 post-primary schools.
