Department of Education to review DEIS funding criteria

The Department of Education is to review DEIS schools funding criteria.
According to Minister Joe McHugh, the Department is rolling out new criteria for the funding programme to replace the system which had been in place since 2008.
In a statement Minister McHugh says the Government has been working hard over the past few years to establish a new set of more accurate criteria which recognises the advantages of more modern measurements and uses methods including Central Statistics Office (CSO) data.
He said that an extra €15 million in funding was announced in February and of the 79 new schools added to the DEIS programme, 22 of them were in County Donegal which equates to more than a quarter.
While acknowledging the schools left disappointed, Minister McHugh is assured the 79 schools which were included were graded as the most disadvantaged in the State.
The Donegal TD said the Department will be contacting schools which had lodged appeals in recent weeks.
They will be asked to provide eircodes of all pupils so the economic backgrounds can be assessed again.