New Coalition funding deal seals $1.2bn for schools

THE Coalition says it has done a new school funding deal with the states and territories that restores $1.2 billion removed by Labor.

Under pressure ... Education Christopher Pyne.

THE Coalition says it has done a new school funding deal with the states and territories that restores $1.2 billion removed by Labor and guarantees no school will be worse off as a result of the commonwealth.

After a week of bad press over the government's decision to walk away from the Gonski school funding plan, Tony Abbott and Education Minister Christopher Pyne fronted the media to say a fresh deal had been done.

The Prime Minister said the "command and control" elements of Labor's plan was gone, but the states would receive their promised funding.

Mr Pyne said the states would ultimately apply the model but, ''every school in Australia will get more funding and will not be worse off because of anything that the commonwealth does''.

Mr Abbott said the government had come up with "perfectly sensible savings" to come up with the extra $1.2 billion to fund school funding increases for Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern territory, which had refused to sign onto Labor's Gonski plan.

The Coalition had been under pressure for breaking a pre-election promise in which it vowed to match Labor's promised funding ''for every single school, dollar for dollar''.

That pledge was modified last week to matching the ''quantum'' of Labor's funding, prompting a backlash from conservative governments in NSW and Victoria, which faced having to share their funding with states that hadn't signed the deal.

The pre-election fiscal outlook removed $1.2 billion from allocated Gonski funding due to the refusal of Queensland, WA and the NT to sign.

Mr Abbott said government would deliver ''four-year funding certainty'' and negotiate a new agreement beyond that at an appropriate time, he said.

He warned it would be ''poor form'' if the states reduced their education spending because more federal cash was on its way.

But he said he would not micro-manage the states by trying ''to run public schools out of Canberra''.

Last week the Abbott government announced it planned only to honour one year of the funding agreements set up by Labor under the so-called Gonski scheme, and allocate a further $230 million in 2014 to the states that did not sign on.

The Prime Minister defended the changes to the Coalition's position.

''Now that we've got an agreement that will mean that we can have a fair and national system we've put all of the $1.2 billion back,'' Mr Abbott said.

NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell welcomed the federal government move, saying the Prime Minister had phoned him in India, where he is on a trade mission, to let him know.

''This announcement removes any uncertainty about funding for government and non-government schools across the state,'' the premier said in a statement.

''It not only highlights Tony Abbott's willingness to listen, but also demonstrates what can be achieved when a federal government is prepared to sit down and work with the states.''

Mr O'Farrell praised the federal government for restoring $1.2 billion of education funding ''deceitfully removed'' by the federal Labor government before the election.

But Labor challenged the Prime Minister to guarantee no school would be worse off.

Opposition education spokesman Kate Ellis asked in question time whether the states would be prevented from cutting their education funding under the deal.

Mr Pyne said it must "stick in the craw'' that the Coalition had not only secured a national deal with all states and school systems, but also found more cash.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten attempted, unsuccessfully, to censure Mr Abbott "for breaking his promises to parents and children across Australia would be worse off''.

But he ran afoul of the speaker when he accused Mr Abbott of "lying''. He was forced to withdraw the accusation.