Tony Abbott abandons plan to dump Gonski, for now

THE federal Coalition has conceded that Labor's school funding model is locked in for next year and backed away from its commitment to repeal the laws.

THE federal Coalition has conceded that Labor's new school funding model is locked in for next year and backed away from its public commitment to repeal the legislation and reinstate existing arrangements.

In a letter sent to principals across the nation last week, Tony Abbott and opposition education spokesman Christopher Pyne said they would let the Gonski model operate for one year while they worked out how to fix it and so schools could judge how it had worked.

The plan outlined in the letter is a shift in the Coalition's public position of repealing and scrapping the Gonski model, in recognition that it is unlikely to get changes through the Senate before July 1, while it is controlled by Labor and the Greens.

It also recognises that the Coalition faces increased opposition from schools to any further changes in funding before the end of the year. School sectors are now working out funding levels for next year based on the new agreements and are reluctant to have to restart the process.

The letter from the Opposition Leader and Mr Pyne was sent to principals of government and non-government schools in all states and territories and commits a Coalition government to implementing a funding model based on the Gonski report. "If elected and there is no national agreement on school funding (and thus far only four out of eight jurisdictions have signed up), the Coalition will move to delay the start of the proposed model by one year," it says.

"This will give everyone the time to consider how properly to implement the recommendations from the Gonski report in a lasting way.

"If Labor and the Greens use the parliament to stop our plan

to delay the new model, the Coalition will allow it to operate for one year (until 2015) while we work out how to get the model right. That will give all schools the chance to see the firsthand effect of Labor's plan for themselves and what it means to you."

NSW, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT have signed up to the funding reforms. The Rudd government has finalised arrangements with independent and Catholic schools in the past two weeks.

Officials from the federal and Victorian governments were continuing discussions last night in the aim of reaching an agreement today while Kevin Rudd flies to Perth to meet West Australian Premier Colin Barnett, with whom school funding will be discussed.

While the government is hopeful of reaching a deal with Victoria, it is less confident of securing agreement from Queensland, and the West Australian and Northern Territory governments look unlikely to sign up.

Mr Abbott and Mr Pyne have used different definitions of what constitutes a national agreement.

Mr Abbott said it meant "all states are on board".

Mr Pyne, however, said it means "an overwhelming majority signs up".

Mr Pyne said the letter was sent to clarify the Coalition's position for schools and ensure they had certainty for the next 12 months.

"If there isn't an overwhelming majority of jurisdictions in support of the new model, we will put forward legislation to continue the current SES model for one year while we sort through Labor's mess," he said.

"As the letter says, if this move is blocked in the Senate then from January 1, 2014, non-government schools and states that have agreed to the new model will commence under the new regime.

"In this circumstance, we will need to analyse what can be done to ensure that the projected losses under Labor's model can be minimised, school fees don't rise and teaching jobs aren't lost.

"Operating six different bilateral funding models is unworkable for any government in the long term, so we will work with the states and sector over 12 months to come up with a realistic and affordable alternative."

While the Coalition's published policy is to increase school funding by $6.5 billion over the next four years, Mr Pyne said that if the current model continued, every school would receive more federal funding under the Coalition than under Labor.

Education Minister Bill Shorten said yesterday the Coalition was opposed to the funding reforms and would not invest the extra money allocated by Labor.

"School principals won't be fooled," Mr Shorten said.

"They are opposed to the Better Schools Plan and will not invest the additional $15bn in schools that the Rudd government will."