Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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537. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will amend the current rules under the school transport scheme whereby in determining eligibility for school transport, applicants must meet the relevant distance criteria and must attend their nearest school; having regard to ethos and language, if school-goers would enjoy greater freedom to choose which school they would attend if a certain degree of flexibility was exercised with regard to the enforcement of this requirement; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45725/15]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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The purpose of my Department's School Transport Schemes is, having regard to available resources, to support the transport to and from school of children who reside remote from their nearest school.

Children who are not eligible for school transport, under the terms of the schemes, may apply to Bus Éireann for transport on a concessionary basis subject to a number of conditions including the availability of spare seats on an existing service and the payment of the annual charge.

While it is the prerogative of parents to send their children to the school of their choice, eligibility for school transport at primary and post primary level is to the nearest school/education centre.

It makes economic sense that the provision of school transport should be to the nearest school and I have no plans to review the current eligibility criteria.

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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538. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of pupils enrolled and the number of teachers employed in a school (details supplied) in County Laois on 1 January 2014 and on 1 January 2015; the number of teachers expected to be employed on 1 January 2016 and 1 January 2017; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45727/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The criteria used for the allocation of teachers to primary schools is published annually on the website of the Department of Education and Skills. 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 operates in a clear and transparent manner and treats all similar types of schools equally. 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 appeals criteria are set out in the published staffing arrangements.

The Statistics Section of my Department's website contains extensive data relating to schools, including data on an individual school basis. The most recent published information relates to the 2014/15 school year.

The Deputy will be aware that I have made provision in Budget 2016 for some 2,260 additional teaching posts for our primary and post primary schools next year. These posts will provide for an improvement in the staffing schedules at primary and post primary levels, enhance the leadership and management roles of deputy principals at post-primary level by reducing their teaching time, an improvement to the scheme of release time for principal teachers at primary level and additional resource posts to meet special education needs.

At primary level there will be a one point improvement to the primary staffing schedule to be implemented for the 2016/17 school year. This will see the primary staffing schedule operate on the basis of a general average of 1 classroom teacher for every 27 pupils. Lower thresholds apply for DEIS Band 1 schools. The improved staffing schedule is currently available on the Department website.

The staffing and redeployment arrangements for all schools for the 2016/17 school year will be published early in 2016. The final staffing position for 2016/17 for all schools will ultimately not be known until the Autumn. At that stage the allocation process will be fully completed and any appeals to the Primary Staffing Appeals Board will have been considered.