Julia Gillard sweetens Western Australia's schools funding offer

JULIA Gillard has made Western Australia a new, increased offer on schools funding, in a bid to encourage the state to sign on to her Gonski plan.

JULIA Gillard has made Western Australia a new, increased offer on schools funding, in a bid to encourage the state to sign on to her Gonski plan.

The announcement comes as part of a blitz by the Prime Minister this week to clinch agreement from holdout states in time for her June 30 deadline for the school reforms.

Federal Labor's initial offer would have put $300 million into Western Australia's base funding for schools, plus commonwealth indexation of 4.7 per cent and state indexation of at least three per cent.

However, the commonwealth did more work on the formula after WA argued the cost of providing education in the state was much higher than in other states.

“On the basis that we now better understand the increased cost of providing education in Western Australia, I have today told Premier (Colin) Barnett that we are prepared to increase the offer,” Ms Gillard told reporters in Perth.

The new offer would mean an increase of $920 million for West Australian schools.

With indexation, WA schools over six years would get an additional $2.8 billion of resources, the Prime Minister said.

Under the overall schools funding package, the commonwealth would provide 65 per cent and the states and territories the remaining 35 per cent.

Ms Gillard said she hoped Mr Barnett would consider the details of the revised plan for WA.

“We have reworked the figures ... but the model is the same,” she added.

Ms Gillard said the higher cost of providing education in WA was more like 11 per cent, than eight per cent.

So far only NSW and the ACT have signed up to Labor's national schools funding plan, which will deliver a total of $14.5 billion to the states and territories over six years.

Ms Gillard said the underpinnings of the revised deal for WA would “never” have applied to NSW.

“They apply here in Western Australia because of the nature of the economy here, and the fact that teachers are paid more here,” she said.

But Mr Barnett remains in no rush to sign up, saying he needs further details of the new offer.

“The financial offer is better than what previously was basically an insult to WA schools so I'm pleased with that,” the Premier said.

“There are still issues about governance and I made it very clear WA is not going to have state schools governed, or reporting, to Canberra.”

The new offer to Western Australia follows increased federal pressure on Queensland to sign up for the Gonski reforms.

Ms Gillard had accused conservative states of putting politics ahead of school kids, while holdout states have cited leadership instability as a further reason not to commit to Labor's education reforms.

Ms Gillard used a visit to a primary school north of Brisbane yesterday to pressure Queensland Premier Campbell Newman to sign on to her government's education deal.

She accused Mr Newman of “playing politics rather than putting the kids of Queensland first”.

The clash intensified today when Queensland Education Minister, John-Paul Langbroek banned School Education Minister Peter Garrett from visiting two state schools, saying he would not tolerate schools being used for the “Gonski media roadshow”.

“We're not going to allow political campaigning, using our kids as props for the Prime Minister and the Education Minister,” he told reporters.

Mr Garrett accused Queensland of acting undemocratically and trying to stifle debate on school reforms.

“In a democracy, you don't ban the education minister visiting schools simply because you don't like what you're hearing.”

AAP