A bitter fight about federal education funding is either over $30 billion or absolutely nothing, depending on which political party you believe.
State and territory Labor ministers say Australian schools will be left with a $30 billion black hole from 2018 after the federal government made changes to a six-year Gonski funding deal signed under the previous Labor government.
But federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne maintains there are no cuts and funding for schools will actually increase over the next four years.
The ministers met to discuss education issues, including funding, in Brisbane on Friday and afterwards it appeared the spat was no closer to a solution.
"There hasn't been a cut," Mr Pyne said after the meeting.
"School funding will go up every year in Queensland and Australia under this government."
Queensland Education Minister Kate Jones returned fire, saying Mr Pyne needed to come clean on the cuts that would rip $6 billion from schools in the Sunshine State.
"Mr Pyne is not being truthful and should stop playing politics when it comes to funding of education," she said.
While Mr Pyne would not go into detail about what was discussed during the meeting, Ms Jones said the states' concerns about education cuts "entrenched" in the Hockey budget were made clear.
"We raised those concerns with Christopher Pyne and his response was that this will be looked at as part of the COAG (Council of Australian Governments) process," she said.
"We will be fighting to ensure that these cuts do not get put forward and are a key federal election issue."
Mr Pyne said the federal government was spending $70 billion on school education.
He said Queensland was getting its fair share and claims of a $6 billion cut were "fanciful".
The four-year education funding agreement in place would be negotiated when it neared its end, he said.
Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the Abbott government had again committed to unfairness for Australian schools in its most recent budget, robbing children of a quality education.
But Mr Pyne said throwing money at schools was not necessarily going to improve the education system, given results were declining despite more money being spent on education than ever.
"What will make a difference to students is a stronger curriculum, better teachers, more parental engagement and more autonomy at the local level", he said.
Mr Pyne has also been pushing to make maths and science subjects compulsory for year 11 and 12 students.
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