The federal government must provide the lion's share of funding needed to pay for the Gonski school reforms, NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli says.
Under the recommendations of an expert panel led by businessman David Gonski, Australian governments would need to commit about an extra $5.4 billion a year, to be shared between the public and private school sectors, to lift education standards.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has refused to commit a dollar figure to the reforms, which were proposed on Monday, saying a "nuts-and-bolts" discussion on funding with education stakeholders, state governments and communities was needed first.
Speaking in parliament on Tuesday, Mr Piccoli said he was disappointed the federal government had yet to make any commitment to the Gonski recommendations and called on the commonwealth to pay for the main part of any new funding.
"While the states and territories provide public education, it is the commonwealth that has the revenue-raising ability to fund the major part of the investment that will be needed to turn these reforms announced yesterday into a reality," Mr Piccoli told question time.
"We all agree that there needs to be more money made available to ensure the new school funding model achieves its goals.
"I call on the commonwealth government to commit to the lion's share of the funds involved."
Front page
RSS Feed