State education ministers are heading for a showdown with the Commonwealth over school funding with claims the states could be unable to deliver "high quality" standards for all students because of federal budget cuts.
A confidential Education Council briefing prepared for a Friday meeting of federal and state ministers warns the states are in danger of not being able to meet a key requirement to deliver excellent education to all students regardless of income or location after the Abbott government refused to fund the final two years of the six-year funding deal.
The briefing, prepared for the meeting by the Victorian and South Australian governments, claims it would now be "incredibly difficult" to place any faith in new agreements offered by the federal government.
It said the recent federal budget had confirmed $80 billion of saving measures from education and health, including $30 billion directly from schools.
"The impact for these cuts will be to compromise states' and territories' ability to provide high quality education to all students, regardless of their location or economic background," the document says.
Despite committing to a "unity ticket" on school funding before the 2013 federal election, Prime Minister Tony Abbott later revealed he would fund only the first four years of the six-year "needs-based" Gonski funding agreement. That means funding in 2018 and 2019 will be capped at 2017 levels.
The Commonwealth previously promised to boost education funding for the states by 4.7 per cent a year from 2014, although under the new arrangements that will now be scaled back to the rate of inflation from 2018.
Following the federal decision, Victoria also refused to commit funding for the final two years of the agreement, instead announcing a review by former premier Steve Bracks to look at future funding arrangements.
The briefing, which comes ahead of what is expected to be a tense meeting, warns the Commonwealth failure to commit to the final two years of the agreement would cost Victoria about $1 billion.
It says South Australia stands to lose the equivalent of $1280 per student over the two years, enough to pay for nearly 3000 extra teachers.
A spokesman for federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne said it was surprising that Victoria was asking the Commonwealth to honour an agreement made by the previous federal government that they themselves had not committed to.
"The Australian government is spending a record $70 billion on school education over the next four years," the spokesman said. "There is a 27 per cent increase for Victoria and 26 per cent for South Australia."
Victorian Education Minister James Merlino said the meeting presented the first opportunity for education ministers to jointly voice their concerns, calling it a "national tragedy" that education funding was treated like a political football.
