Kevin Rudd steps in to beat Gonski deadline

KEVIN Rudd intervened in school-funding negotiations with the Victorian government after finalising arrangements with Catholic schools yesterday.

KEVIN Rudd intervened in school-funding negotiations with the Victorian government, in a bid to sign up the nation's second largest school system by the end of the week after finalising arrangements with Catholic schools yesterday.

Senior federal government sources hope the agreement with Victoria will be decided in the next two days but said any deal must be finalised by Friday.

The timing heightens speculation that the Prime Minister will call an election next week, which will place the government in caretaker mode and prevent it from signing any more funding agreements with states yet to adopt the reforms.

Victorian Premier Denis Napthine described his meeting with Mr Rudd - their first since Julia Gillard was deposed as prime minister - as fruitful and positive, and vowed to keep working towards a funding agreement by Friday. "We are happy to keep negotiating but it would seem Canberra is on a pretty tight timeframe," he said.

Dr Napthine said the main sticking points were funding levels for the next six years and assurances sought by the state that schools would remain under the authority of school councils and principals, not "faceless bureaucrats" in Canberra.

Victoria has committed an extra $3.5 billion for its schools and wants the commonwealth to contribute $7bn under the two-for-one deal. The Rudd government is offering $4bn.

Mr Rudd urged Victoria to "come on board" its national schools funding model while visiting Aquinas College in Melbourne with Education Minister Bill Shorten, where they announced details on implementing school reforms had been settled with the National Catholic Education Commission. The arrangements are worth about $1.6bn in additional funding for the nation's 750,000 Catholic students plus $13.6m a year over the next six years to cover extra costs of implementing school improvement measures. The settling of Catholic objections to the funding arrangements is a boost to the Rudd government, which is yet to strike a deal with the Victorian, Queensland, West Australian or Northern Territory governments.

All Catholic schools came under the new funding system in legislation passed this year. Catholic officials yesterday resisted saying they endorsed or supported the system, describing the agreement reached as "a road map to implementation rather than a tick".

National Catholic Education Commission executive director Ross Fox said Catholic school officials in South Australia and Western Australia would continue negotiations with the commonwealth to resolve particular issues in those states, but the rest of the country would sign memorandums of understanding with the commonwealth in coming weeks.

Mr Fox, who stood for Liberal preselection at the last federal election, said the undertakings provided by the commonwealth could be addressed in the regulations and he was unconcerned by threats by the Coalition to tear up the funding agreements unless an overwhelming majority of states adopted the model. "Our assessment and understanding is that this delivers more funding to students in Catholic schools," he said. "We're aware of the statements by the Coalition and we are sure we'll be able to engage with them to provide certainty and clarity for our schools."

The key commitments secured by the Catholic school system were the preservation of school autonomy and the sector's right to redistribute funding to schools within its system.

In the memorandums of understanding, the federal government has said it will not seek a right to veto each commission's own funding model, and in return the Catholic systems will publish details of their funding calculations to ensure "a clear line of sight" on government funding to every school. The government has also relaxed its requirements on the school improvement plans, which Catholic officials described as overly prescriptive.

Mr Shorten said 2.5 million of 3.5 million children were now covered by the Better Schools plan. "Children in state governments who have not signed up are not getting in their schools the same resources which are available in NSW, Tasmania, South Australia, the ACT, children who go to independent schools and children who go to Catholic schools," the minister said.

"We now believe it is time that all educational jurisdictions take advantage of the federal government's commitment to education funding to make sure that all children get an equal and good start in life and are set up for their adult years."

Additional reporting: Dennis Shanahan