The Abbott governments's first budget will exacerbate education problems and lead Australia's students to sink further, an architect of the Gonski system warns.
But Ken Boston has also roasted the previous Labor government for failing in the politics of school funding.
"The basic reason we don't have Gonski today is not because we elected the Abbott government but because the previous government ... failed in the politics of this," he told a Senate committee hearing on Friday.
But he wasn't sure the Abbott government understood there was a problem with Australia's school system and that it held the solution.
Australia was more than happy to invest in digging up its coal, iron ore, bauxite and other minerals and realise their potential but it didn't seem willing to do the same with the intellectually capacity of its children.
Unless Gonski is implemented - and it's still not too late to implement it - things will worsen, he said.
"Australia's educational performance will continue to decline. We will not create the clever country."
The budget cemented the government's pledge to only match the planned school funding for four years - cutting out the massive increases Labor had promised in the fifth and sixth years.
It indicated the commonwealth will only increase its contribution from 2018 in line with consumer price rises.
That's about half what was promised in the Gonski deal.
All up the states lose about $30 billion for schools over 10 years.
"It's better to be spending what money is available on education strategically on real areas of need instead of wasting it and spending it in areas where really it's not going to have any significant impact," Dr Boston said.
He noted there was strong support for genuinely sector-blind, needs-based funding from state governments and was confident common sense would eventually prevail.
David Gonski, who led the panel reviewing school funding, will deliver his verdict on what's happened on Wednesday.
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