THE Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, has gone into damage control after telling an education forum that the high level of public funding public schools receive is an injustice.

Addressing a meeting of the Independent Schools Council of Australia yesterday, Mr Abbott stressed the Coalition's opposition to the Gonski review's recommendation to overhaul school funding.

''Overall, the 66 per cent of Australian school students who attend public schools get 79 per cent of government funding,'' he said. ''The 34 per cent of Australians who attend independent schools get just 21 per cent of government funding.

''So there is no question of injustice to public schools here. If anything, the injustice is the other way.''