The federal government has come under fire after revealing it won't fund the final two years of Gonski, but Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull insists schools funding remains a matter for discussion.
NSW Premier Mike Baird says the government has been too quick to scrap the funding stream, after Education Minister Simon Birmingham revealed on Tuesday he would instead work to strike new funding agreements from 2018.
"I strongly believe it is too early to make a decision in relation to that funding," Mr Baird told reporters in Sydney.
"If we prove over the next two or three years that those funds are delivering better educational outcomes for our kids ... what sort of government would not want to participate in that?"
Mr Turnbull said the funding remained a matter for discussion between federal and state governments.
He said the government was focused on teacher quality, insisting there was more to improving education than funding.
"We are certainly committed to ensuring that working together with the states, our common challenge has the outcome that all Australian kids get access to a high quality education," he told reporters in Victoria.
Labor says the cuts would rip more than $3 million from every school in Australia.
Opposition education spokeswoman Kate Ellis said Labor was committed to a needs-based school funding model "consistent with the Gonski reforms".
Senator Birmingham hit back, accusing the former Labor government of compromising Gonski through special deals for different states and sectors.
"Labor continues to talk about a model they never funded and still don't commit to funding themselves," he said.
He was focused on creating a simpler system rather than handing out more cash and said discussions with the states and non-government sector about post-2017 funding would look beyond just a two-year horizon.
The Australian Education Union accused the government of turning its back on the neediest students if it failed to fund the full six years of Gonski out to 2019.
"If Malcolm Turnbull walks away from the Gonski agreements he will abandon the students who need help the most, by denying their schools the extra resources they need," president Correna Haythorpe said.
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