Education Minister Christopher Pyne has defended his handling of the Gonski education reforms, saying he succeeded in creating a national funding model where Labor failed.

The Federal Government has backed down on its decision to axe Labor's Gonski reforms, pledging now to fund the plan for four years.

On Monday, Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Mr Pyne announced school funding deals struck by the previous Labor government with four states and the ACT would be honoured.

It also announced "in-principle" agreements with Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory that will see $1.2 billion in extra education funding delivered.

The backflip comes after criticism the Government broke an election promise made by Mr Abbott, who had said the Coalition was on a "unity ticket" with Labor on the issue.

Mr Pyne defended the Government's newfound support for the Labor-negotiated funding deals on the ABC's 7.30 program, saying it was a "complicated process" made difficult by the "shambles" left behind by the Labor Party.

"I've just spent the last 11 weeks trying to sort through the mess that Bill Shorten left me as the Education Minister," he told the ABC's 7.30 program.

"Three jurisdictions had signed agreements. Two had been claimed to have signed it, but hadn't.

"The Catholics hadn't signed an agreement and ... two states and one territory weren't even in the national model."

Mr Pyne says the Coalition has now succeeded in signing up all states and territories.

"What I've managed to achieve is to get every state and territory in a national model, which Bill Shorten never achieved, and [return] $1.2 billion extra in spending on students that Bill Shorten ripped out in the pre-election financial outlook," he said.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 4 minutes 58 seconds 4 m 58 s Coalition changes position on school funding deals

The $1.2 billion refers to additional funding Labor had offered under its schools funding model, but which was not allocated because those states - led by conservative governments - had not signed up to the Gonski model.

The Prime Minister says the additional money will come from savings to be announced in about a week with the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO).

Mr Pyne says the Coalition will be spending more on education than Labor would have, had it won the election.

"If Labor had been re-elected, they would've spent $1.6 billion in extra money. We're spending $2.8 billion," he said.

"I've delivered the national funding agreement that eluded Bill Shorten and Julia Gillard. I think that's quite a good day at the office."

The Federation of Parents and Citizens Association says the Coalition's reversal is the right call.

Federation spokeswoman Rachel Sowden says the Abbott Government underestimated the community's anger on the issue.

"We've had the downs and the ups and the roundabouts and the double backflips and now we're almost off the ride, so that's fantastic," she said.

"We're excited they have heard the voice of community and parents and premiers of states and they've listened to the outcry and they've made some changes."

Coalition had to find money to 'deliver on the promise': Joyce

Coalition frontbencher Barnaby Joyce said the Coalition had to find the extra $1.2 billion before it could change its education policy position.

"We had to deal with the promise that we would deliver what the Labor Party was going to deliver, but the Labor Party, from the ... statements before the election, were going to deliver $1.2 billion less," he told Lateline.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 15 minutes 40 seconds 15 m Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce speaks to Lateline

"We had to negotiate our way through the figures and find the money so that we can deliver on the promise as the public sees it, and that's only fair enough and that's what was done."

In announcing the new agreements on Monday, Mr Abbott said the Government would "dismantle" the regulations and red tape associated with Labor's deal as it does not want to "run public schools out of Canberra".

"I suspect that New South Wales and Victoria will be happy to lose the Canberra command and control elements of those deals but certainly the financial arrangements for the next four years will be absolutely adhered to," he said.

It will shelve Labor's ideas of imposing management plans for states' schools systems, setting up Canberra-based inspectors and gathering extra data in Canberra.

It has also not committed to the full six years of funding proposed by Labor - a move criticised by the Australian Education Union.

Its deputy president Correna Haythorpe says the Government is effectively only committing to a third of the funding promised to the states that signed up to Gonski.

She says most of the funding would have flowed in the last two years of the six-year agreements.

"Today's statement has done little to provide certainty for Australian schools," she said.

Victorian Education Minister Martin Dixon says he is confident he can persuade the Commonwealth to extend its funding plan by two years.

"We're prepared to put up our fair share of the funding, and given the success that we've had now arguing that case, we're going to continue that expectation into this final era of negotiation, which is to have the six-year funding agreement recognised rather than just a four-year," he said.

Tasmanian Education Minister Nick McKim says he has asked for confirmation of the Federal Government's renewed commitment in writing.

"Our fairer funding model is contained in the heads of agreement, so if Mr Pyne is true to his word that now appears safe in the fairer funding model, that's the sort of assurance I will be seeking from Mr Pyne," he said.

Opposition wants guarantee no schools will be worse off

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has described the policy reversal as "the latest saga in the Coalition's election promise-breaking antics in education".

Sorry, this video has expired Bill Shorten accuses the Government of breaking an election promise

Mr Shorten says Mr Abbott has put students, parents and teachers on a "rollercoaster".

"He's moved from 'read my words' to 'read my lips' to 'read my mind'," he said.

Mr Shorten wants a guarantee that no school will be worse off under the Government's plan than it would have been under Labor, and says it is not clear if the states and territories will still be compelled to index their own school funding.

"Can the Abbott Government keep its election promise that no school will be worse off?" he said.

"No Australian is any clearer as to whether or not the Abbott Government intends to fix up its election promise."

The $15.2 billion Better Schools Plan was based on recommendations made by a review panel which was chaired by businessman David Gonski.

Sixty-five per cent of the additional money was slated to come from federal coffers with the rest contributed by states and territories.