Education reform protests may jeopardise funding

SCHOOLS face losing money if state and territory governments refuse to adopt the federal government's education reforms.

SCHOOLS face losing money if state and territory governments refuse to adopt the federal government's education reforms.

With a formal funding offer expected to be made to the states in the next few weeks, ahead of a planned meeting of the Council of Australian Governments in mid-April, School Education Minister Peter Garrett yesterday warned that an increase in money would flow to only those that adopt the new funding model.

After a meeting of the nation's education ministers in Sydney yesterday, Mr Garrett said states that failed to sign up to the new model, which is based on the recommendations of the Gonski report, would continue to receive funding under the framework of the existing system.

"For states that don't participate in the new education funding model, there won't be any additional funding for education from the commonwealth," he said.

"Under that model, the impact of state government spending cuts means they can receive less money over time."

The new model proposed by the federal government would provide a base level of funding per student, topped up by loadings to account for disadvantage and differences including location and school size, and would require an extra $6.5 billion a year to ensure no school's funding was cut.

Mr Garrett said the commonwealth was finalising updated financial information for schools and awaiting revised socioeconomic data to enable formal offers on new funding arrangements, which will be negotiated bilaterally with each state and territory. "We have been walking very briskly and now we are running," he said.

Victorian Education Minister Martin Dixon said any school system that sat outside the new funding model would receive dwindling levels of federal funding, resulting in cuts over time.

"If you don't sign up, you won't receive the same funding you get now, there will be a reduction from the commonwealth over time," he said.

But Mr Dixon said key questions about the new model, such as who decided the amount of money each school gets, remained unanswered.

Chairman of the ministerial council and NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli said state ministers were frustrated by the lack of detail on the table, and the federal government's refusal to answer the $6bn question about the size of the commonwealth's contribution and the amount the states are expected to provide.

But Mr Piccoli was confident agreement would be reached, and said there was an expectation in the Australian community that the states and the commonwealth would agree on a new funding model.

Ministers also agreed to Julia Gillard's goal of lifting Australia to the top five performing school systems in the world by 2025.