A landmark school funding deal to finally end the war over public versus private is here. It's a big deal.

Extract from ABC News 

Analysis

By national education and parenting reporter Conor Duffy

• Topic:Education Policy

2 hours ago

David Gonski led the 2012 review of Australia's school funding. Now his recommendations will become reality. (Getty: Bloomberg)

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There have been six Australian prime ministers since prominent businessman David Gonski delivered the formula to fairly fund every school in Australia back in 2011.

Now, finally, after 14 years of false starts and a system that continues to over-fund private schools and under-fund public schools, his model will be implemented.

"It's very, very pleasing," Mr Gonski said in a rare interview with ABC News.

"I still believe what we said in 2011 is correct today. I still believe that what we said was right."

Back then it was obvious — and it's still apparent today — that the schools with the biggest challenges are usually the furthest behind in funding.

Fixing that is expensive but will pay off in the long run, according to Mr Gonski.

"I think education is transformative," Mr Gonski said.

"One of the things that came to me very clearly when we did the report was that if you can educate somebody, not only can you change their life, but in turn, by making them more productive and making them happier etc, you can actually change the life of a community — so it's a win-win."

Public schools across Australia now on track for recommended funding

Yesterday Queensland became the last state in Australia to sign on to the decade-long Better and Fairer Schools Agreement (BFSA) with the Commonwealth.

It means every state is on track to hit the minimum funding levels recommended all those years ago.

But exactly when those levels will be reached, what was agreed to in order to land the deal and the other basic terms have not been released, leading to calls for greater transparency (more on that later).

What is the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement?

• It's a plan to boost public school funding to the full amount recommended by the Gonski review in 2012
• The federal government has agreed to lift its share of public school funding to 25 per cent, up from 20 per cent
• Meanwhile, states must lift their share of funding to 75 per cent of the recommended minimum in the Gonski review
• States and territories must also commit to educational reforms, such as catch-up tutoring and improving NAPLAN scores

Funding is calculated using Mr Gonski's Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) which calculates what every school needs to have 80 per cent of students meeting minimum NAPLAN expectations.

"A schooling resource standard [ensures] sufficient funds to do what is required for those who are going through public education and in turn other parts of the education system," Mr Gonski said.

It was also a huge day personally and professionally for Education Minister Jason Clare, who has led negotiations for three years and walked away with a deal.

"This sort of reform is historic, the biggest investment in public education by the Commonwealth government ever," Mr Clare said.

"[It] makes sure that every child in the country gets the same chance and same great start in life."

The negotiations were tough, with teacher's unions at one stage threatening to protest at Mr Clare's electorate office, near where he grew up in western Sydney.

"Being Minister for Education is the one job I've always wanted and I wanted it to be able to do this more than anything else," Mr Clare said.

"It's going to make a difference to so many kids right around the country: kids at school now, kids that aren't even born yet, kids in suburbs like the one I grew up in.

"I'm the first person in my family to finish high school, first person in my family to finish year 10. I'm only here because of public education."

Commonwealth signs education deal with Queensland for extra $2.8b

It also means the poisonous school funding wars, which have consumed education for decades will lose most, or at least some, of their sting.

"Non-government schools are funded at the level that David Gonski said they should be at. Government schools aren't. This will fix that," Mr Clare said.

"This finishes the work that David Gonski started and makes it real for all kids right across the country wherever they go to school."

Do you know more about this story? Contact Specialist.Team@abc.net.au.

The money comes with strings attached

Australia's education system is at a low ebb with poor performances in both national and international tests.

Today too many students are falling behind early in primary school and never recovering their shot at the transformative power of an education. Only one in five children who have fallen behind by age eight will have caught up by age 15, Mr Clare said.

"It's our public schools that do the really heavy lifting … most kids aren't catching up," he said.

Criticisms have been made that it's not just the amount of money, but how it's spent, that's causing this.

The new funding comes with requirements for earlier numeracy and literacy checks, catch-up tutoring, investments in evidence-based teaching and goals on improving NAPLAN scores.

Parents are choosing private schools amid public school underfunding.

Mr Clare hopes lifting funding will help with the exodus of students from public schools to better-funded private competitors.

"It'll mean mums and dads across the country have real choice. They'll know that the school around the corner has the resources and the support that their children need," Mr Clare said.

"This is providing that sort of support — intensive individualised support, tutoring in school — for free, and that's what I think every mum and dad would want for their child. That's what every child deserves."

The promised money is also earmarked to tackle the social problems increasingly adding to teacher workloads and causing classroom disruption.

"There's also big investments here in health and well-being in mental health support for young people, investing in counsellors, psychologists, nurses, the sort of wrap around supports in our schools that can help to make children who might be struggling with issues outside of school turn up to school and finish school," Mr Clare said.

With an election nearing the Coalition has pledged to honour the funding deals if it takes office.

However, it has been critical of the transparency of the funding deals and is calling for all of the details to be released.

"The public has a right to know what deals have been struck behind closed doors, and what this means for teachers, students and their families," said Senator Sarah Henderson, the opposition's education spokesperson.

"Without this transparency, there are serious concerns about what concessions may have been traded away, and when the promised funding will be delivered."

Senator Henderson said the government had claimed public interest immunity to avoid a Senate order requiring that the agreements be publicly released.

In this 2023 report, we explored how 40 per cent of private schools were receiving more than Gonski's recommendation. (Conor Duffy)

It's understood the point in the ten-year agreement at which the states will meet their Gonski funding targets varies across jurisdictions.

States will still provide the lion's share of public-school funding — about 75 per cent. Some states are further behind their targets than others.

The difference between meeting it now or in 2034 could impact millions of students.

The Greens have criticised the deal because it doesn't deliver full funding immediately.

"More public school funding is always a good thing, but this agreement leaves public schools underfunded for another decade," Greens senator Penny Allman-Payne said.

"Labor's plan ensures that it will be a quarter of a century before Gonski is delivered and every Australian public school receives its bare minimum funding."