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Gonski 2.0: What's happening with the Government's school funding plan?

By political reporter Julie Doyle

Posted , updated 
Unidentified young students walking to Tasmanian school with parent.
The bill is listed for debate on Wednesday and the Government needs 10 extra votes to pass the package.(

ABC News: Rhiana Whitson


The Senate has passed the Government's big plan to change the way the country's schools are funded.

The 10-year shake-up was announced back in May, but the Government has had to make several concessions to get the plan through Parliament.

What was the original plan?

A funding increase of $18.6 billion over 10 years, with the greatest share going to the schools that need it most.

Schools would be gradually moved to a common share of Commonwealth funding over a decade, replacing the existing funding deals signed when Labor was in office.

Some schools will lose money in the process but the majority will receive more.

The Commonwealth would fund 20 per cent of the base funding amount for government schools and 80 per cent for non-government schools.

States would be required to at least maintain their current funding levels.

What have we ended up with?

The Greens and the Nick Xenophon Team wanted the money to flow to needy schools faster than 10 years.

The Government has agreed to a six-year timetable instead for under-funded schools.

That has added an extra $5 billion to the cost of the package, bringing the total bill to $23.5 billion over a decade.

An independent body, to be called the National Schools Resourcing Board, will also be set up as a watchdog to monitor the way funding is distributed.

Senator Xenophon's other key demand was a way to make the states more accountable for their funding.

He said the Government has agreed to set funding benchmarks that the states must meet.

What about the Liberal senator who threatened to cross the floor?

WA Liberal senator Chris Back has different issues he wants addressed.

He wanted the current system used to fund Catholic schools kept for 12 months while the change to the new model was reviewed.

In the end, the Government agreed to allow Catholic and independent school systems to access an extra $50 million in funding next year to help them move to the new funding model.

The system used to determine how much money non-Government schools receive will also be reviewed by the new National Schools Resourcing Board.

That was good enough for Senator Back.

But not for the Catholic sector. It was still unhappy, arguing that change did not go far enough.

What happened to the Greens?

After all the negotiation, the Greens decided to vote against the package on the grounds the extra $50 million for the Catholic sector amounted to a "special deal".

But the Government secured the 10 crossbench votes anyway with One Nation, the Nick Xenophon Team, Jacqui Lambie, Derryn Hinch and Lucy Gichuhi on side.

When will this start?

The new system starts from next year.

Is this the end of it now?

There will also be another review by David Gonski, looking into how extra funding should be spent to improve results and lift performance.

He will report to the Government by the end of the year.

Posted , updated