John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will ensure that the pupil teacher ratio at a school (details supplied) in County Kilkenny is maintained in view of the rural nature of the school and the serious difficulty the loss of a teacher would cause; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13428/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The Government has protected front-line services in schools to the greatest extent possible in the recent budget and there will be no reduction in teacher numbers in primary schools for the 2013/14 school year as a result of the budget. The DEIS scheme for disadvantaged schools is also fully protected with no overall changes to staffing levels or funding as a result of the budget. The criteria used for the allocation of teachers to schools is published annually on my Department's website. The staffing arrangements for the 2013/14 school year (Circular 0013/2013) have recently been published. The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September.

The staffing schedule also includes an appeals mechanism for schools to submit an appeal under certain criteria to an independent Appeals Board. Details of the criteria for appeal are contained in the staffing schedule, Circular 0007/2012. The allocation process at individual school level is currently underway. The final staffing position for all schools will ultimately not be known until the Autumn. At that stage the allocation process will be fully completed and all appeals to the Staffing Appeals Board will have been considered.