Peter Garrett out of step on Gonski

SCHOOL Education Minister Peter Garrett has told sectors that the reforms in the Gonski report have "waited long enough".

SCHOOL Education Minister Peter Garrett has told representatives of the education sectors that the school funding reforms outlined in the Gonski report have "waited long enough", implicitly endorsing the funding model outlined by the review.

Mr Garrett's assessment is at odds with the official response of the federal government that the report provides "great insight" and Julia Gillard's refusal to endorse the approach or provide a commitment in-principle to boosting school funding by at least $5 billion a year, as recommended.

Mr Garrett's comment was made during the briefing on the Gonski review of school funding held in the federal Education Department in Canberra on Monday for representatives of the government, Catholic and independent schools, as well as education commentators.

Chairman of the independent review David Gonski told the same briefing that $5bn to address the nation's schooling challenges "was not an unreasonable amount", representing less than half of 1 per cent of the national GDP and only 15 per cent of total government funding for education from federal, state and territory governments.

School sector representatives who attended the briefing told The Australian Mr Garrett said the report was "the most rigorous and independent evaluation for decades". "It's a reform that has waited long enough. It's time to get on with it," he reportedly said.

Instead, the government has embarked on another round of consultation with education groups and the community following the 18-month Gonski review, which received more than 7000 public submissions.

Following a forum with parents and teachers in Canberra yesterday, Mr Garrett urged a constructive and "reasonable" debate on the recommendations. "We have already started to have negotiations at an official level around funding principles. I am pleased to see that the states are willing to consider what those funding principles ought to be," he said.

In a reference to the claims by the opposition, Mr Garrett said the government was not interested in a "fake debate about hit lists, about alleged means-testing or about alleged takeover of schools".

"I need to be very clear that this debate is about co-operation, constructive engagement and making sure every school is a great school," he said. "It is in the national interest."

In Adelaide yesterday, the Prime Minister rejected claims by West Australian Premier Colin Barnett that the review would amount to a federal takeover of the running of public schools.

"It's not about who controls schools. States will continue to run and manage state schools; the independent schools will run themselves, as they do now; the Catholic education system will manage Catholic schools," Ms Gillard said. "Overwhelmingly, as we look around the nation, states, the Catholic school system, independent schools are doing a great job but we need to keep getting better for the future."

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill became one of the few state governments to support the Gonski recommendations, saying he did not share the concerns of Liberal state governments about the pooling of education money.

Additional reporting: Rebecca Puddy