Western Australia's Education Minister Peter Collier has announced 500 jobs will be cut from the sector across the state, despite declaring he had no plans to slash positions less than a week ago.

And, the Premier Colin Barnett has flagged the possibility of closing high schools in the Perth metropolitan area.

He has identified Fremantle and Armadale as two areas where there is a strong case for closing and amalgamating schools to deliver better outcomes for students.

"There are schools in the metropolitan area where the student numbers are low," he said.

"That restricts the curriculum, it restricts the development of vocational and academic programs, and there's no doubt a good sized high school with modern facilities can provide, at face value, a better quality of education."

The education sector is also reeling from the news that 150 jobs will be axed in the central office, while the positions of 150 specialist anaphylaxis assistants will end, and another 200 education assistants will lose their jobs.

Mr Collier says many of the positions can no longer be justified, and the government is overhauling the system's funding model to improve efficiency.

Under the model, schools will receive a base amount for each student, with additional funding to help children with extra needs.

Just four days ago, Mr Collier said job losses in the education sector were not on his agenda despite budget papers estimating the department will save $280 million through public sector reforms.

He has denied lying about the job cuts and says he simply misunderstood the question which he thought referred specifically to teaching jobs.

"When I made comments last week, and I want to make this quite clear, I was referring to teachers," he said.

"I apologise if there was confusion there but I was genuinely referring to teachers."

Mr Collier says the state spends $4.4 billion on education and resources need to go where they are most needed.

"One out of every four dollars of the state budget goes to educating our children - our responsibility is to ensure that the money is used effectively," he said.

He says over the last decade the number of education assistants had risen by more than 70 per cent.

"For example, since 2004-05 the number of education assistants has risen from 4,455 to 7,709 but they haven't always been allocated effectively," he said.

Impact to hit most vulnerable

Kevin Davey has been an education assistant for 15 years, including eight years in his current role at Belridge Senior High School.

He says the cuts will have the greatest impact on vulnerable students.

"You're talking about children with autism, downs syndrome, kids who have severe anaphylactic shock, epilepsy, things like that where you need someone one on one with those kids to make sure they're going to be okay," he said.

"If anything goes wrong, someone's there to immediately put a plan into action."

Vicki Bennie works at a language development centre as an education assistant and says they are an easy target.

"Most people think that we're either a volunteer at school or a mum that comes into help but we're actually trained, we have to have qualifications to do the job," she said.

"The impact on the teachers themselves, they would suddenly become so overwhelmed with all the work they have to do, the things we help them with.

"We not only help teachers, we help the people like speech pathologists, all sorts of people who come in and do therapy with the children."

"We deserve to be where we are and treated with some sort of respect."

Mr Collier says the existing funding system was recently reviewed, and found to be complex and confusing.

"WA's public schools are now responsible for the education of more than 276,000 students across the state," he said.

"The education system is growing rapidly and facing rising costs, largely associated with record student growth."

Cuts significant

The Premier has acknowledged the cuts are significant but says students will not suffer as a result.

Mr Barnett says the education budget has actually increased by about 4.5 per cent overall.

"This is is about using [that money] where it helps the most numbers of students," he said.

"What you'll see is some reductions in staffing [but] the number of teachers will be retained throughout the coming year and then probably increase thereafter.

"You'll also see a redistribution where teachers will be re-allocated to where the students are."

The United Voice's Carolyn Smith says she has no doubt the cuts will have a direct impact on WA students.

"How can the Premier and the Minister cut 500 jobs from the education department and say kids won't suffer? That's a ridiculous statement," she said.

Ms Smith says children who need extra support at school will suffer the most.

"Our members in schools are looking after kids with disabilities, Aboriginal and Islander kids, kids in kindy," she said.

"These cuts will mean those children are not supported, their educational outcomes will be affected.

"It's the kids of WA who are going to suffer from these cuts.

"We have the Government acknowledging the school system is under major pressure, we've got record numbers of enrolments and yet they're cutting 500 jobs."

Barely providing support

The State School Teachers Union's president, Anne Gisborne, is disappointed with the changes and says the central and district offices can barely provide support with existing staff levels.

She says 67 per cent of students with disabilities attending mainstream schools.

And, she says education assistants are needed to monitor children with anaphylaxis.

"These are children who could potentially die on the spot in schools, and transferring that as another responsibility to teachers and school leaders we believe is unreasonable and shouldn't be occurring," she said.

Ms Gisborne says it will be education on the cheap.

"It sounds to me like it's a Gonski model without the funds to be quite honest," she said.

"And, that's hugely disappointing given the thoroughness of that review.

"It looks like this West Australian government is prepared to take us forward into the future greatest opportunities for our young people and community through education on the cheap."

The cuts will come into effect next year.