Just when you thought he was Gonski, he's back.
Malcolm Turnbull has hired his Sydney Grammar school-mate to write Gonski 2.0.
The report by eminent businessman David Gonski - who has become synonymous with better support for schools - will work out how to get the best from a pot of funding due to rise from $17.5 billion to $30.6 billion over the decade.
Labor and schools sector advocates have been campaigning for six years to have the initial 2011 Gonski report implemented in full.
Moving from the government benches to opposition in 2013, Labor argued $3.5 billion in funding was at risk because of the coalition's refusal to accept the original Gonski model.
Former prime minister Tony Abbott in 2014 lambasted Labor's commitment to funding the Gonski model.
"I'm certainly not committing to a permanent massive increase ... because it's those sorts of pie in the sky promises which got us into this problem in the first place," he said.
Voters marked down the coalition at the 2016 election, leaving Turnbull with a one-seat majority and a difficult Senate.
Now Turnbull - whose treasurer has appeared to have taken the reins off spending and split the definition of debt into "good" and "bad" - has found the money and brought back the architect to finish the job.
The prime minister will sit down with the premiers in Hobart on June 9 to get their approval for the deal.
The political question is whether Labor will get the credit for forcing the government's hand or Turnbull has pulled off a masterstroke which will revive the coalition's education credentials, or at least neutralise the attack.
Bill Shorten gave a flavour of Labor's reaction as the Turnbull-Gonski media conference wrapped up.
"Australians will never trust the Liberals when it comes to properly funding schools. When they think they can get away with it, they'll cut," he tweeted.
Labor points to the government's announcement on university funding, which will be slashed by almost $3 billion over the next four years while students pay more for their degrees and will have to start paying it off earlier in their working life.
For mums and dads, the proof will be seeing their kids' results improve, a lift in the quality of teachers and fewer chook raffles.
