Education no longer battleground

LABOR was vying for top marks with its education policy during the election but it didn't bet on the coalition playing copy cat.

With more than 3.5 million children in Australian schools, parents of students represent a big chunk of votes.

Labor says its $15 billion-plus better schools plan, based on the Gonski panel recommendations, means every single school will see more money from 2014.

Victoria was a last minute addition on Sunday, inking a deal with the federal government to split a $12.2 billion cash injection over six years.

The state received assurances its public schools will keep their autonomy.

A total of 78 per cent of schools across Australia are now covered by the plan.

Western Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland have yet to sign up.

However, Queensland has indicated it's ready to sign a deal immediately if it wins the same concessions as Victoria.

Under the new model all schools, public and private, will have a base amount of money per student. The government will fully fund loadings on top of this to account for disadvantage.

Education Minister Bill Shorten says this means all schools will have the resources to help students who are falling behind as well as the bright kids who need to be pushed further.

After months of insisting the current funding model is not broken, the coalition has vowed to honour and match the school funding agreements entered into under Labor's Better Schools plan.

"As far as school funding is concerned Kevin Rudd and I are on a unity ticket," Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said on Friday.

"We will make sure that no school is worse off."

Labor will be less keen to highlight the other end of the education equation: a $2.3 billion cut from universities to help fund the schools cash splash.

The cuts were announced before the May budget and factored into the forward estimates but won't be enshrined in law until after the election.

The government says universities will still get more money than before, it will just grow at a slower rate. The sector disagrees.

Universities Australia research shows the issue could be a vote-changer with a third of "soft" voters saying the cuts would make them less likely to vote for Labor.

But UA chief executive Belinda Robinson said there wasn't much choice between the two major parties at the moment.

"We've got the opposition who are more or less saying we'll book the cuts thank you very much," she told AAP.

"But perhaps we'll start to see some rethinking there as well as the contest between the two parties becomes a little bit tougher and a little bit closer."

The Australian Greens have been the strongest campaigners against these cuts, arguing changes to tax arrangements for mining companies, big banks and millionaires should be used to pay for increased education funding instead.

The Greens' stance has impressed the National Tertiary Education Union so much it took the unprecedented step of voting to use its $1 million election warchest to support the minor party.

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