Prime Minister Julia Gillard says private schools will get more

JULIA Gillard will today promise every independent school increased funding amid fears one in three schools will be worse off under education reforms.

JULIA Gillard will today promise every independent school increased funding under Labor's education reform blueprint as she moves to head off a revolt from the states amid growing concerns that as many as one in three schools will be worse off under the plan.

Victoria and Queensland last night threatened not to sign up to the funding reforms if any schools - public, independent or Catholic - were left disadvantaged by the government's response to the Gonski recommendations.

Victorian Education Minister Martin Dixon told The Australian he would not be a part of a funding model "that would disadvantage any school, family or student".

Queensland Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek said his state would not agree to "expensive federal government reforms that leave almost a third of schools worse off".

But the Prime Minister is expected to today tell an Independent Schools Council of Australia forum that she is determined to "lift school standards, not school fees", and that the government's response to businessman David Gonski's education review "will deliver funding security for your schools".

But with the release of the government's education blueprint put back to next month after having originally been expected this week, government and non-government schools remain nervous about their future funding.

News Limited papers reported that more than 3000 public and private schools could emerge as losers under modelling prepared by the states and non-government schools, but that the government had moved to make changes to "make sure no school will lose a dollar".

Opposition education spokesman Christopher Pyne said unless annual funding indexation of 6 per cent a year was maintained under the new model, schools would suffer a real cut in funding.

Education Minister Peter Garrett took to Facebook yesterday to say "no school will lose money under our plans - in fact, funding for every school will continue to go up. We'll be releasing more details soon."

Sources told The Australian yesterday that public school funding would be increased for every school.

In her speech today, Ms Gillard is expected to say that her goal is not simply to reform school funding.

"My only interest in school funding is using school funding to drive improvement in school performance, to get all of our children a higher quality education," she says.

Yesterday, appearing on Sky News Australian Agenda, the Prime Minister directly linked performance to funding. "That money, in my view, any more we give to schools needs to be about driving better outcomes for kids, high quality and better standards," she said.

Today, Ms Gillard is also expected to declare that "government support for a child's education is one of the entitlements of citizenship".

"No matter how rich or poor your parents are or where you go to school, our nation should provide a basic degree of support to your education is one of the entitlements of citizenship.

"No matter how rich or poor your parents are or where you go to school, our nation should provide a basic degree of support to your education, because you are Australian, because you are part of the whole.

"Now, naturally, one way this idea of an education entitlement derived from citizenship takes concrete form is in school funding.

"There should be Australian government support to educate every Australian child - in the poorest and most remote school; at the best known and best resourced school."

Ms Gillard's speech comes amid delays in the government's response to the Gonski report, which was expected to be released this week but will now be released in "a number of weeks".

The report, by a panel headed by Mr Gonski, says extra funding is required to enable all schools to educate students to a high standard, estimated by the panel at $5 billion a year based on 2009 figures.

The commonwealth is still finalising the actual costs, but it is believed the estimate in 2013-14 dollars is $6.5bn.

Gonski proposes a baseline funding of $8000 for every primary school student and $10,500 for high school students with new loadings for disability, location and disadvantage.

The opposition, the Greens and the Australian Education Union slammed the delay, saying the government needed to take action now given slipping student performance standards.

Tony Abbott accused the government of delaying its response to the Gonski reforms because of reports that almost one third of schools would be worse off under the funding changes.

Ms Gillard said the federal government had shown it would be prepared to "step up" and grant extra funds to the states for important national outcomes. But she signalled the funding for the National Disability Insurance scheme, which could cost up to $7.8bn, would be funded by expenditure savings.

Australian Education Union federal president Angelo Gavrielatos said the government "needed to act and act now" on the Gonski report, which made it clear that there was a "urgent need to invest in education" to improve the way funding is distributed.

Ms Gillard told Sky News Australian Agenda that without drastic reforms to the education system Australia risked falling behind on a world stage.

Ms Gillard also said that the funding for any Gonski reforms would be driven by better outcomes for children, more transparency and lifting standards in teaching.