Schools funding has emerged as the biggest issue of contention as the federal government continues education talks with the states and territories.
It's threatening to overshadow federal government efforts to address radicalisation of Muslim youths and curricula reform.
The Council of Australian Governments Education Council is meant to iron out education issues that arise between the federal government and the states and territories.
Education Minister Christopher Pyne has been pushing for reforms on the teaching of math and science, and more emphasis on the de-radicalisation of some Muslim youth.
But any progress the council might make on those topics this year seems to have hit a snag.
That snag, say the states and territories, is around $30-billion in federal funding cuts.
They say the cuts arise from changes made by the Abbott government to a six-year Gonski funding deal signed under the previous Labour government.
Kate Jones is Education Minister in Queensland's Labor government.
"We think a 30-billion dollar cut to education in Australia is a backward step for our nation. Our young people deserve the very best start in life and we know that can only be achieved through good quality education and we will be fighting to ensure that these cuts do not get put forward and are a key federal election issue."
Victoria's Labor Education Minister James Merlino has also attacked the government over its funding commitments.
"Walking away from years five and six and cutting the indexation rate, that's the amount of funding provided to our schools is 30 billion dollars over the next 10 years. For Victoria alone, in 2018 and 2019, years five and six of Gonski, that is around one billion dollars cut from our schools."
But Christopher Pyne has refuted the claims of a 30-billion-dollar cut.
He says the states would receive more money for education than from a federal Labor government.
And he says claims by the Queensland state government of a six-billion-dollar cut to its allotment are untrue.
"Of course, that figure is a fanciful figure. Queensland wasn't part of a national agreement at all around school funding until I brought them in after the last election and provided an extra 780 million dollars to Queensland that Labor had taken away from Queensland. We do now have a national funding agreement, including every state and territory."
However, Mr Pyne added that increasing spending wouldn't necessarily improve the education system, given results have been declining despite funding increases over time.
He's advocating new curricula, better teachers, more parental engagement and more autonomy at the local level.
Mr Pyne has also been pushing for the states and territories to make maths and science subjects compulsory for year 11 and 12 students.
"This is a medium- to long-term goal, It would take five to ten years to make science or math compulsory in year 11 or 12, because obviously the current cohort of students couldn't suddenly be required to do a subject they're not prepared for."
Mr Pyne admitted though that some state and territory ministers needed more convincing that math and science should be compulsory in years 11 and 12.
And negotiations over senior high school curricula is likely to be complicated by the funding disagreement that's taken centre stage.
One matter the federal government can't afford to complicate though is the radicalisation of a very small number of Muslim schoolchildren.
Minister Pyne says senior education officers will identify what further action can be taken to support law enforcement agencies fighting this phenomenon.
"And so we have our senior officials to collate the work that's currently going on across all jurisdictions in terms of dealing with at risk youth and then to see what gaps there might be and how those gaps can be filled and also to work with the other COAG councils on law enforcement, community safety and so on, to see how we can work together to make sure that the excellent work that all of our law enforcement agencies are doing is also supported in the school system."
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