The Gonski school funding reforms have been enshrined in law despite five states and territories yet to sign any agreement with the commonwealth and Victoria sending their negotiations back to the drawing board.

The Australia education bill passed the senate on Wednesday as government leadership tensions looked like they were going to spill over as a petition circulated around Labor party MPs to call a special caucus meeting.

The bill passed the senate with no amendments and so did not have to return to the House of Representatives for the legislation to become law.

With the 30 June deadline looming for other states and territories to sign on to the reforms, the bill creates a situation where South Australia, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory could be funded using a different model to the rest of Australia.

As the bill passed, Victorian premier Denis Napthine rejected the latest offer from the federal government on Gonski funding instead demanding $7 billion of federal money over the next six years.

Prime minister Julia Gillard took it in her stride, telling parliament during question time that Napthine had indicated he was still willing to negotiate.

"This is a great day for Australian schools, students and families," she said in a statement.

"For the first time, we have a needs-based funding model for schools across all sectors, one that will ensure our classrooms are properly resourced for generations to come."

NSW, SA and the ACT are the only states and territory to sign on to the reforms though it is believed Tasmania could sign up over the weekend with Premier Lara Gidding satisfied the state will not lose GST revenue.

The complicated funding model distributes education money to schools based on the needs of their students but requires states who sign on to agree to other reforms such as higher entry standards for teachers into the profession and more information on school performance for parents.

The federal government had proposed $4.2 billion in additional education funding for Victoria over the next six years which would have been made up by state and commonwealth funds, but Napthine is offering to contribute $3.5 billion, bringing the federal contribution to $7 billion.

Independent and Catholic schools across Australia will come under the new funding model regardless of whether their state has signed up to the reforms, but they will not receive additional state funding.

"We have been clear, however, there will be no windfall gain for non-participating states and territories," a statement from the prime minister said.

The National Plan for Schools Improvement will be implemented in participating schools from 1 January next year.