Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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233. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the cost of reversing the cuts to the school staffing ratio in smaller schools which was introduced in Budget 2012; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33905/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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As part of the Budget 2012 decisions, the number of pupils required to gain and retain a classroom teaching post in small primary schools was gradually increased between September 2012 and September 2014. An appeals process was made available to schools that are affected by this measure.

The cumulative savings achieved to date from the 2012 small schools budget measure are of the order of €23m. This gives an indication of the overall costs involved in relation to restoring teacher numbers in small schools.

The Deputy will be aware that I announced some improvements in the staffing schedule for small primary schools in February 2015. These changes were introduced to better support the sustainability of small schools and particularly those in isolated areas and were the only changes that I made to the staffing arrangements for schools for the 2015/16 school year.

These improvements are improved retention thresholds for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th classroom teacher and also the improved appointment and retention thresholds for isolated one-teacher schools.

These improvements particularly recognise the challenges faced by very small schools that are more than 8km from the next nearest school of the same type.

This package of measures will provide rural communities with security about the future of their small schools, recognising the essential social function which small schools can play, especially in isolated communities.