Ministry staff will visit each of the four schools next week to discuss the results of their decile appeals, and explain the outcomes.
The ministry declined to release the names of the appealing schools until after the visits were completed, but Otago Daily Times investigations have revealed two of them are Green Island School and Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Otepoti, in Sunnyvale.
Green Island School principal Steve Hayward has been vocal about the changes to his school's decile rating following a review in November last year.
He said it had changed from 4 to 6, which meant the school's government funding would be cut by about $10,000 a year.
''Ten thousand dollars per year - that money's got to come from somewhere.
''This is real money for teacher aids and support programmes for children.''
Ministry of Education student achievement deputy secretary Dr Graham Stoop said 160 schools across New Zealand had asked for a review following last year's recalculation.
''That recalculation was based on information from the 2013 Census and saw about a third of schools go up in decile, a third go down, and the rest were unchanged.
''That's very similar to what happened when it was done in 2007.''
Dr Stoop said there were 2406 schools in New Zealand and each was encouraged to ask for a review if they felt their new decile was incorrect.
''We heard from about 7% of them and did further work with those schools.
''As a result, 85 are moving to a lower decile rating and the other 75 have had their rating confirmed.''
Dr Stoop said the review outcome was expected.
''The majority asking for a review were primary schools, many with smaller rolls, and we know they are more susceptible to changes in their local communities.
''We were able to establish that some circumstances in their communities had changed since 2013, so weren't fully reflected.''
Dr Stoop said it was also important for schools to understand the ministry recognised circumstances could continue to change.
There would be another review opportunity later this year, as well as further annual reviews.
Dr Stoop said the Government had made about $8 million in transitional funding available to help schools that had had their decile ratings increased.
The funding would be available over the next 18 months to help them adjust to their new funding levels.
And the 85 schools that had had their decile ratings lowered would not be disadvantaged, because they would have their additional funding back-dated, he said.
