Lib state making the sales pitch on Gonski

THE NSW government is briefing other states on the merits of the school funding reforms it signed with the Gillard government.

NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli

THE NSW government is briefing other states on the merits of the school funding reforms it signed with the Gillard government, frustrated by claims the secrecy surrounding the deal is preventing other governments from signing up to the Gonski model.

NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli has extended the offer of a briefing to his Victorian and Queensland counterparts after going to Canberra last week to brief the federal Nationals partyroom and opposition education spokesman Christopher Pyne.

Officials from the NSW Education Department went to Victoria this week to brief their state counterparts. Neither Victorian Premier Denis Napthine nor Education Minister Martin Dixon attended, and it is understood the government still holds concerns but remains open to negotiations.

Mr Piccoli told The Australian yesterday the NSW government thought it was a good deal and wanted to dispel any notion that it was shrouded in secrecy.

"There's nothing secret about it, we are trying to get all the facts out there. The briefings are to say this is what we signed, and why we signed and why we think it's a good deal. It's about putting policy ahead of politics, which is the one thing people always ask politicians to do," he said.

"I hope all the states sign up. This is a change in the way schools are funded. It's not even about the dollars. It changes the nature of how schools are funded, particularly by the commonwealth, and that's a good thing."

The bill legislating the federal government's education reforms, including the new school funding model, passed the lower house yesterday with the support of five independent MPs. Queensland MP Bob Katter and the former Speaker Peter Slipper voted against it.

School Education Minister Peter Garrett said he hoped the passage of the legislation would encourage other states to join NSW and the ACT in signing up. "The days of arguing and the days of real issues of ideology being attached to funding schools are over," he said.

States that refuse to adopt the funding model will be locked into a lower rate of increased funding to ensure they do not receive a windfall from the extra spending in participating states.

Queensland Premier Campbell Newman, who has criticised Julia Gillard and the government's handling of negotiations, yesterday accused the Prime Minister of adopting "bullying tactics" by changing the arrangement for indexation for schools that remain funded under the existing system.

"It is a dud, bad deal. We're not going to sign up to it and the idea that Julia Gillard will then cut funding and throw the dummy out of the bassinet is spiteful and mean," he said.

If Queensland fails to sign up government schools will lose out on the additional funding and higher indexation rates offered by the commonwealth but the state's independent and Catholic schools will receive the extra money.

While state and territory governments can opt out, all independent and Catholic schools will be funded under the new system and will receive the extra money from the commonwealth but will miss out on the extra funding from their state governments.

Catholic and independent school parents in NSW jointly issued a challenge yesterday to Mr Garrett to visit one of their schools and explain the funding model to parents.