Some of Australia's most elite high-fee private schools are receiving taxpayer funding almost three times greater than their entitlements while other schools remain grossly underfunded, official Education Department data reveals.

The finding bolsters Education Minister Simon Birmingham's claim that some schools are "over-funded" and may need to have their funding frozen under a new funding deal from 2018.

The federal Department of Education data shows more than 150 private schools across Australia received funding above their Schooling Resourcing Standard in 2014, Fairfax Media can reveal.

The Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) - the bedrock principle of the Gonski Review into school funding - measures how much government funding each school is entitled to, including extra loadings for disadvantage.