MONEY for school building improvements should be released, even without a minister in place, Sinn Féin has said.
Department of Education permanent secretary Derek Baker said work would only go ahead on a small number of schools.
A constrained budget, he said, would limit the running of the school enhancement programme, which pays for building work costing between £500,000 and £4 million.
There are 165 applications but Mr Baker said it was unlikely anyone would know which schemes would be funded "until such times as a minister for education is appointed".
Sinn Féin education spokeswoman Karen Mullan has said there was "no good reason why the department cannot make the decision".
"The department will have assessed each project and the decisions should be made based on the objective need of each individual school," she said.
"And while we accept the departmental budget is under severe pressure, available resources can still be allocated on the basis of objective need."
