Coalition to ditch Gonski model and renegotiate school funding agreements, says Education Minister Christopher Pyne

Updated

The Federal Government has announced it is scrapping Labor's plans for school funding and will renegotiate agreements with all states and territories within a year.

Education Minister Christopher Pyne says Labor's arrangements will stay in place for the coming year and will then be overhauled.

The Minister says Labor removed $1.2 billion from the education budget before the election, when it failed to clinch "better schools" deals with Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Mr Pyne says that means there is less money available but he is committed to ensure the shortfall will be spread across all states and territories, including the ones that did not sign up to the original Labor deal.

He wants to put in place a new system using the same amount of funding promised by Labor over four years.

New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia all insist that agreements for funding over the next six years have already been signed off and they must be honoured.

Prior to the election, the Coalition said it was on a "unity ticket" with Labor regarding school funding, but Mr Pyne says he is not breaking election promises.

He says the Government will honour funding for 2014 but beyond that, a new model will be implemented.

The Coalition says the so-called Gonski model negotiated by Labor is too complicated, with Mr Pyne describing it as "a complete shambles" and "an incomprehensible mess".

"The way our system works is no government can bind any future government - what one government does, another government can undo," he said.

"I made it very clear before the election that I didn't buy up to the Labor Party model. We said that we would have the same funding envelope and we will."

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has brushed off questions about whether the previous government moved the $1.2 billion of funding out of the education budget.

"The deal is a deal. Christopher Pyne and Tony Abbott please get out of the way of Australia's schools, Australia's hard-working school teachers and Australian parents, just do what you said you would do before the election," he said.

Pyne says needs-based system will remain

Mr Pyne says he remains committed to a needs-based funding system, but he will be putting in place a model that requires less regulation.

"It will be flatter, it will be simpler, it will be fair between the states and territories and it will be equitable for students so that the school funding reaches those who need it the most," Mr Pyne told reporters in Canberra.

"I would say that we are keeping our promises by doing just that.

"We said that we would remove the control and command features from the [former] government's model, that is exactly what we will do.

"We will make the model less prescriptive, less restrictive, with less control from Canberra in what is effectively state government and territory government schools.

"We don't want to try and tell the states how to operate their own responsibilities. We're not going to infantalise the states."

Before the federal election the Coalition promised to meet Labor's Better Schools funding promises.

However, Mr Pyne says when some jurisdictions did not sign up to Labor's plan, the money they rejected was removed from the education budget.

Pyne on collision course with states, territories

The issue has flared ahead of this Friday's first meeting between Mr Pyne and all the states' and territories' education ministers.

He says the Labor government signed bilateral deals with NSW, South Australia and the ACT, but never finalised the agreements with Tasmania and Victoria.

New South Wales Premier Barry O'Farrell says he expects the Commonwealth to abide by the signed agreement reached on education funding.

Mr O'Farrell says he has written to the Prime Minister seeking assurances that his state will not receive less funding.

"We'll hold the Commonwealth to the agreement we signed, but my concern is ... Mr Pyne is making certain statements in the media but we don't have the details, we don't have an understanding," he said.

"I expect that will be outlined at the ministerial meeting on Friday, but I just say to Mr Pyne: we have a signed agreement with the Commonwealth Government, with the Commonwealth of Australia. It's for set dollars and New South Wales is not going to settle for less."

NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli says his Government, which was the first to sign up to former prime minister Julia Gillard's funding plan, has already applied the new model to the state's 2,200 schools.

But Mr Pyne says some schools in NSW are worse off because of the deal the state did with Labor.

"The New South Wales Government hasn't implemented the pure Gonski model, they've implemented their own hybrid approach to that," he said earlier.

"That is why, in implementing it, a number of schools lost money in New South Wales."

Tasmania expects funding, although bilateral agreement wasn't signed

There is currently some confusion over the status of Tasmania's agreement with the Federal Government.

While a heads of agreement was signed between Tasmania and the Labor government, a binding bilateral agreement was not finalised.

Tasmanian Education Minister Nick McKim says Mr Pyne should honour the heads of agreement negotiated with the previous government.

He says Mr Pyne has sent a bolt of fear through schools around the state.

"This is an outrage perpetrated on Australia's most disadvantaged students, on their parents and on their schools."

"And Tasmania will on Friday be putting to Christopher Pyne: stick to your promise and don't try to cover up one of the biggest broken election promises in Australia's history."

The state's Premier, Lara Giddings, says she is concerned the Federal Government is trying to back away from the earlier agreement.

"We expect the Australian Government to abide by their promise to the Tasmanian people," she said.

Going forward beyond 2014 I want to put in place a flatter, simpler, fairer structure. Education Minister Christopher Pyne

"It's just not good enough to throw away an election promise, to break an election promise like that when this is about our children's future - they made a promise, they better not break it."

In a statement, Victoria's Education Minister Martin Dixon says his state's $12.2 billion agreement must stand, saying "along with Victorian schools and school communities, we expect the Commonwealth to honour this funding".

ACT's Education Minister Joy Burch says there is sense in the current funding deal.

"It's most concerning that it appears that this Government, the Commonwealth Government, is negotiating new education funding through the media," she said.

"It is very clear that this was a sensible and well thought through funding model that provided equity within the public system and in the non-public system.

"That's what families and the school leaderships have been asking for.

"If this is the level of regard that is played out by the new Commonwealth Minister, it doesn't bode well for a positive and ongoing enduring relationship."

Mr Shorten, who was education minister at the time many of the agreements were announced, is adamant an agreement was made with Victoria because he was involved in the negotiations.

'This is unprecedented, this nonsense': SA Premier

Earlier this month, Queensland said it had struck a deal with the Commonwealth worth $884 million, but the agreement is also yet to be formalised.

Queensland Treasurer Tim Nicholls says state Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek has written to Mr Pyne about the latest developments.

Today, South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill urged Mr Pyne to back off on plans to renegotiate the Gonski deal.

"We're going to be insisting on the agreement that we reached with the former government. That's the agreement we signed with a sovereign government," he said.

If this is the level of regard that is played out by the new Commonwealth Minister, it doesn't bode well for a positive and ongoing enduring relationship. Joy Burch, ACT Education Minister

"What's this idea that somehow you come into government and somehow you can actually dishonour agreements that were reached with the previous government?

"I mean, this is unprecedented, this nonsense."

Western Australia's Education Minister Peter Collier says he is keen to negotiate a national agreement - but on two conditions.

"First of all, the notion of Federal Government intervention in Western Australian schools as a result of that funding is unpalatable," he said.

"Secondly, that Western Australia gets a fair and equitable distribution of the pie.

"So if they can overcome those two issues, Western Australia will be pleased to sign up."

However, not everybody is unhappy. NT Education Minister Peter Chandler says he supports the plan.

"I think Minister Pyne is on the right track here," he said.

"What he wants to do is remove the layers of bureaucracy that currently exist within education."

The National Catholic Education Commission has welcomed the opportunity to renegotiate the terms of the funding arrangements.

"A lot was achieved through the Australian Education Act and the Gonski funding arrangements as they're described," executive director Ross Fox said.

"But they can be improved and we'll look forward to achieving even more fair and equitable outcomes from discussions with the Government."

The president of the teacher's union, Angelo Gavrielatos, has accused the Federal Government of spin.

"We have a funding formula in place and what the Government should be doing is first and foremost honouring its pre-election commitment and then seeking to extend it right across Australia," he said.

Topics: education, schools, primary-schools, public-schools, secondary-schools, federal---state-issues, government-and-politics, federal-government, australia, act, nsw, qld, sa, tas, wa, nt, vic

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