NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli has declared a "war over fairness" and accused the federal government of abandoning public schools as negotiations between ministers over the future of education funding look set to break down before they have even begun.
A new analysis by the NSW Department of Education, released the day before meetings were set to kick off, claims NSW schools will face a funding cut of $400 million from 2018 under the federal government's plans.
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School funding explained
Why school funding is set to become one of the most important debates in Australian politics.
According to the analysis, public schools are expected to shoulder the cost of $100 million being re-distributed to other states while private schools are spared.
"I've seen those schools, Canley Vale Public, Curran Public, I've seen what impact that extra money is having," Mr Piccoli told Fairfax Media.
"I'm going to defend that with every ounce of political life I've got."
Education leaders will to fly into Adelaide to meet federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham on Friday to negotiate a new four-year school funding model.
On Thursday, Mr Birmingham labelled the current funding arrangement a "corruption" of David Gonski's original vision with a patchwork of "special deals" with states and school sectors that is riddled with "gross inequalities".
Mr Birmingham's Coalition colleague, Mr Piccoli, responded on Friday by suggesting public schools in western Sydney would get less funding and some of the state's most expensive private schools would get more funding.
"We are going to make it very clear who are going to be the winners and who are going to be the losers out of what the Commonwealth is proposing," said Mr Piccoli.
The projected loss of the additional $100 million comes on top of $300 million already forgone through the now-abandoned original Gonski agreement.
The new analysis shows that Western Australia could be among the biggest beneficiaries of the $100 million loss in NSW, with an increase of 19 per cent in funding to 2019 while the ACT would gain an extra 10 per cent.
Mr Birmingham said he would not pre-empt discussions on the specific details of a new model, which is not due to be finalised with states, territories and non-government school authorities until early next year.
"The analysis that we have released clearly shows that Western Australia, who as a state invests more than NSW per student, receives the least in federal government funding per student," Mr Birmingham said.
"One of the questions I will be asking Education Council tomorrow is, why is it fair that Western Australia receives so much less per student, even for schools with identical levels of disadvantage?"
The head of school education at the Grattan Institute, Peter Goss, said both sides of politics need to accept responsibility for the current funding mess but praised Mr Birmingham's desire to reach a new agreement.
"The special deals have to go. It's great Simon Birmingham has made that argument so strongly," he said.
Mr Piccoli ruled out making up any federal funding shortfall in NSW, citing the original funding agreement that was signed with the Gillard government.
"We would be punished as a state for having made the additional investment in education," he said.
National Catholic Education Commission executive director Ross Fox said Catholic school leaders and parents were becoming increasingly concerned about "an era of uncertainty".
"The current funding arrangements moved all schools and school systems closer to funding that meets assessed need. Anything that undermines that progress will not be welcomed by any parents or school communities," he said.
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