Truancy officers are to ask Government to more than quadruple their budget to €26 million.
In its pre-Budget submission, the National Education Welfare Board will argue a "spend now, save later" approach to keeping children in school.
In some schools, as many as 30 per cent of students are routinely truant.
In the last budget, education welfare officers got only €5.4 million to do their work, despite requesting €13.4 million. Today they will ask for double that figure.
The officers have been given the task of preventing early school leaving by liaising with schools, students and their families. This is a complex area requiring a wide range of family supports.
Due to financial constraints, there are only 74 education welfare officers - one-fifth of the total needed. The State requires 300 education welfare officers according to the National Education Welfare Board.
The INTO has condemned the Department of Education and Science for failing to sufficiently fund the new board.
The board quotes US research in arguing that $1 spent on keeping a child in school, equals $7 save in terms of potential social problems such as unemployment, ill-health and crime.
An ESRI report last week concluded that the State could save many millions annually by keeping students in school. Interventions to prevent educational failure were key to alleviating disadvantage, researchers argued.