A new £46m annual grant scheme for primary and secondary schools has been announced by the Minister for Education, Mr Woods today.
The money will be spent on pay for secretaries and caretakers. £32m will be transferred to schools during the present school year.
The funding, which is in addition to existing capitation grants and other supports, will be based on the number of pupils in a school.
Primary schools will receive increase grants from £40 per pupil per annum to £100 per pupil phased in over two years.
Second-level schools will receive an increase in support grant from £20 per pupil per annum to £78 per pupil introduced over the same period.
"All schools will now have certainty in relation to guaranteed levels of caretaking and secretarial provision and the overall equity of the system will be greatly improved," Minister Woods said.
The Minister also announced that he is immediately appointing consultants to examine and advise him on transitional arrangements which may affect some schools during the process of the withdrawal of CE Schemes. He is setting aside £2m to respond to the recommendations of the Consultants.
Meanwhile, the Department of Education announced that outstanding pay due to examiners of this year's Leaving Cert and Junior Cert tests would be made by next week.
The secondary teachers' union ASTI criticised the delay complaining that the work was completed more than 10 weeks ago.
"It is totally unacceptable that payment for this onerous and vital work, which in most cases was completed last July, has still not been made. The ASTI constantly sought commitments from the Department to pay the money at early dates but these dates have never been met," said Mr Lennon.
The result of the union's ballot on payment for supervision adn substitution work is due tomorrow, with sources indicating a low turnout.
If the £27 per hour pay offer is rejected, then school pupils face another year of disruption, with the threat of an all-out teachers' strike looming.