Napthine wants written pledge

VICTORIAN Premier Denis Napthine wants a written assurance that the federal government will not interfere in the management of his state's schools.

VICTORIAN Premier Denis Napthine has demanded a written assurance from Kevin Rudd that the federal government will not interfere in the management of his state's schools, as a condition of signing up to the Gonski reforms.

In return, Dr Napthine appeared to extend an olive branch to the Prime Minister yesterday, indicating he was prepared to compromise on the extra $7 billion over six years Victoria has sought from the federal government.

Dr Napthine gave the clearest sign yet that Victoria was poised to join NSW, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT in adopting the new funding system, appearing to back away from earlier statements that the $7bn was non-negotiable.

The threat of federal interference in the running of schools has been a key sticking point in negotiations with state governments, as well as the Catholic and independent systems, and Victoria is particularly concerned given it runs the most devolved school system in the nation, which empowers principals, school councils and parents to make key decisions.

Dr Napthine demanded the legislation be amended but said he would be happy to receive a letter from Mr Rudd to that effect and did not believe parliament had to be recalled. "We need absolute assurances in writing that the legislation will be amended or the legislation certainly will not be implemented," he said.

Dr Napthine also indicated he was prepared to compromise over the extra funding Victoria has demanded. The original offer was an extra $4bn, of which the federal government would contribute about $3bn, but the Victorian government has committed to increase its contribution to $3.5bn and demanded it be matched under the two-for-one offer.

"We're happy to be flexible, we're happy to negotiate," he said.

Spring Street, the site of government offices in Melbourne, was swarming with state and federal bureaucrats from multiple departments yesterday as the two governments attempted to broker a deal before the weekend.

Mr Rudd visited two schools in Melbourne yesterday to sell the benefits of the school reforms, rebadged as the Better Schools Plan, and flies to Western Australia tomorrow for the first time since regaining the leadership, where he will discuss school funding with Premier Colin Barnett.

A spokeswoman for Mr Rudd said he had made it clear the government would not be changing the legislation at this stage and said the commonwealth was not interested in taking over schools, nor did the legislation do this.

Federal Education Minister Bill Shorten sought to assure Victoria that its devolved school-management system would not be compromised by any deal. "The commonwealth government does not want to run schools -- that is appropriately a state government responsibility or, indeed, in the case of non-government schools, responsibility of the independent schools or the Catholic Education Commission," he said. "We don't want to run their schools and we've made that clear."

Mr Shorten was optimistic a deal with Victoria would be finalised tomorrow, saying "the ingredients are there to bake the cake". "The devil is always in the detail and we're going to have intense discussions over the next couple of days," he said.