Education 'political football' attacked

THE government's delay in responding to the Gonski review of school funding had created doubt about its commitment to an overhaul.

THE delay by the federal government in responding to the Gonski review of school funding had created doubt about its commitment to an overhaul of the system.

NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli said yesterday not responding as planned this week had allowed federal Labor and the Coalition to play "political football" with schools.

He restated the NSW Coalition's support for the Gonski recommendation that state schools receive the bulk of new funding. "This issue is too important to be used as a political football. Any changes to school funding should not be used to pit public schools against private schools," he said. "We certainly agree with the Gonski panel that most of the proposed funding increases should be directed to public schools because most disadvantaged students are concentrated in this sector."

Mr Piccoli's remarks are at odds with federal Coalition policy, which has rejected the need to overhaul funding. Tony Abbott told an independent schools forum on Monday that public schools educated 66 per cent of students but received 79 per cent of government funding. If there was any injustice, he said, it was suffered by private schools.

Julia Gillard, who at the forum promised all non-government schools increased funding under any changes, seized on the Opposition Leader's comments in parliament, calling him Jack the Ripper.

School Education Minister Peter Garrett told parliament yesterday the implication of Mr Abbott's comments was that schools should be funded based on the number of students rather than their needs, which would cut $2.5 billion from public schools.

Opposition education spokesman Christopher Pyne has written to the Catholic bishops over the heads of the National Catholic Education Commission, which has been broadly supportive of Gonski.

He said "hundreds of Catholic schools" could potentially be worse off under Gonski, and the opposition had offered to work with the government to pass legislation extending funding arrangements for a year to provide certainty. Mr Garrett said he had received no such offer.