Coalition to drop $7b off Gonski: union

The Australian Education Union says schools would miss out under the coalition's pledge to match Labor's education funding plans for four years .

Schools still lack certainty and could miss out on lots of extra money under a coalition federal government, the teachers' union says.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott on Friday said a coalition government would match Labor's promised schools funding for the next four years but on a no-strings-attached basis.

"This is an election policy on the part of Tony Abbott, not education policy," Australian Education Union national president Angelo Gavrielatos told AAP.

Matching funding for four years, rather than the six years of Labor's plan, meant a $7 billion shortfall because the bulk of the money flows in 2018 and 2019, he said.

Coalition education spokesman Christopher Pyne said on Sunday his party's plan gave schools certainty for 2014.

States would get "exactly the same funding envelope" whether there was a Liberal or Labor government, he said.

Education Minister Bill Shorten said Labor's "strings" required the funding to be distributed according to need and for the states to put some money in.

"Premier Napthine and the conservatives in Victoria ... looked at Tony Abbott's no string policy and they said we'll actually sign up to some Labor requirements," he told ABC radio on Monday.

Queensland has said it could sign up to the schools funding deal on Monday morning if federal Labor offers the same deal it gave Victoria.

Any agreement would have to be signed before the election writs are issued on Monday evening and the government is put into caretaker mode.

Mr Shorten said on Monday Queensland's latest offer was "just a hoax".

Mr Pyne later said the coalition had committed to match Labor's funding over forward estimates, not six years, because the current funding system was based on four-year agreements.


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Source: AAP


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