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Prime Minister Julia Gillard has renewed pressure on states and territories to sign up to the Gonksi education reform, declaring she wants them to index school funding by at least 3 per cent.
The Federal Government hopes to strike a deal with the states and territories on a new national funding model at next month's COAG leaders' meeting.
So far none have signed up to the plan, in part because the Commonwealth is yet to divulge how much money it is proposing to spend and how much it expects the states to contribute.
But this afternoon the Prime Minister declared the states should be offering to index school funding by at least 3 per cent a year.
"During all of those discussions it's becoming increasingly clear that in too many states around the nation we have seen cutbacks to funding going into schools," she told reporters at a Perth school.
"Those cutbacks not only hurt directly but they actually affect the indexation formula for the future.
"So I've got a clear message for state governments around the nation, and that is to stop the cutbacks and it is also to properly index their funding for the future.
"They should be offering an indexation arrangement of at least 3 per cent for the future."
Ms Gillard says her plan is not a Commonwealth takeover of schools.
I'm disappointed that the Prime Minister would choose to conduct her negotiations around Gonski through the media and not through a proper policy process.
NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli
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She says she wants to see a nationally-consistent model on school funding, not a nationally-uniform model.
"Our drive for school improvement is one that recognises differences in different parts of the country and in school systems," she said.
"The differences in the Catholic system from state school systems, the differences between states in the way that they offer education."
The West Australia Government says it has an excellent education system and it will continue to invest significantly in its schools.
But it says the funding model will not be determined by Canberra.
NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli says today is the first he has heard of the call to index funding at 3 per cent and has taken issue with the way the Prime Minister is treating the states.
"I'm disappointed that the Prime Minister would choose to conduct her negotiations around Gonski through the media and not through a proper policy process," he said.
"If Julia Gillard should have learnt one thing from last week, then that is to focus less on the politics and focus more on good policy.
"Doing these kind of things - trying to wedge states - is certainly the wrong thing to do."
Mr Piccoli says there is hope for an agreement at the leaders' meeting next month, but only if negotiations are conducted in the "proper way".
Queensland Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek says his state will not be making any commitments about growth funding until the Commonwealth reveals its hand.
"I think you have to admire the audacity of the Prime Minister who says that this is not a federal takeover of schools when she's talking about Gonski, but in the next breath is telling us how to do our job," he said.
What I object to is the Federal Government once again giving us a cruel hoax of a campaign to do with the word 'Gonski'.
Qld Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek
"I'm really concerned that the Prime Minister doesn't seem to understand that with Labor, it's always about money, money, money.
"We think that the answer to this is to spend money responsibly on things that we know work."
Mr Langbroek says Queensland already increased education spending by 4.5 per cent last year.
"We're always focussing on making sure that we increase our spending, allowing for growth and allowing for the fact that we've got difficult budgetary circumstances," he said.
"But what I object to is the Federal Government once again giving us a cruel hoax of a campaign to do with the word 'Gonski'.
"To have the Prime Minister come out dishonestly and disingenuously today to try to distract people from what the real issue is, and that is that the states run schools.
"We're trying to work collaboratively with the Federal Government, who refuse to give us any more detail about what they're proposing."
Topics: education, federal---state-issues, government-and-politics, australia
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