Education Minister Dan Tehan has rejected claims a new grants fund for school playgrounds and library upgrades is "all but meaningless" to the needs of Australian students.
Scant detail is available so far on the new $30 million local school community fund included in last week's federal budget.
Every electorate will receive $200,000 to "support priority projects in local schools that benefit students and their communities".
Mr Tehan expects the program to mirror the existing "stronger communities fund" or Centenary of Anzac grants from his time in veteran's affairs.
The minister is writing to each of the more than 120 schools in his local electorate, encouraging them to apply for grants of between $1000 and $20,000.
He will then establish a committee - most likely comprised of school principals and retired educators - to scrutinise submissions and allocate the money.
"I've got full confidence that schools right across the nation will benefit from this funding," Mr Tehan told reporters in Canberra on Sunday.
The teachers' union says the grants in no way make up for capital works cash having been rolled into regular federal funding of public schools.
It is quite insulting to suggest the $30 million would close any infrastructure gaps, Australian Education Union federal president Correna Haythorpe says.
"This provision basically means it's about $3164 per school and about $7.77 per child - which won't even pay for a textbook in the library," she told AAP.
"The treasurer's completely out of touch if he thinks that $3000 per school is going to make any significant difference for our libraries and play equipment."
Mr Tehan counselled unions against "running a blatant scare campaign on behalf of the Labor Party".
"Actually get behind something which will benefit schools locally," he said.
"Enable students, parent bodies, principals and teachers to engage in something where they can do a project of real need for their local schools."
The number of schools in each electorate ranges between 26 in Fadden, on the Gold Coast, and 181 in Durack, which covers about two-thirds of WA. The typical seat contains about 55 schools.
A new school playground costs between $60,000 and $100,000 - and mostly at the upper end of that range - equipment supply companies have told AAP.
A similar program for environmental projects, which gives $150,000 to each local member to hand out, has come under fire after one Liberal MP claimed he and the environment minister had awarded four grants in March, despite the program not being open to applications until mid-year.
