Big states still truant in school funding stoush

Australia's biggest states are digging in their heels, continuing to reject a federal school funding deal, despite a move by Tasmania to sign up.

Public schools in the Apple Isle will be fully funded by 2029 after the Tasmanian government accepted the Commonwealth's new education agreement.

The federal government will lift its commitment to 22.5 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard - which estimates how much total public funding a school requires to meet its students' needs - while Tasmania will fund the remaining 77.5 per cent.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the latest announcement was a stepping stone to change.

"I want to make sure that every student in Australia, no matter where they live and learn, receives every opportunity," he said.

The federal government has committed to fully fund every Australian public school by increasing its contribution to 40 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard in the Northern Territory and 22.5 per cent everywhere else.

Though Tasmania, WA and the NT have agreed, every other jurisdiction has urged the federal government to further lift its proposal to 25 per cent.

NSW Deputy Premier and Education Minister Prue Car, who oversees Australia's largest public schooling system, said her government could not sign the current offer.

"We remain resolute in refusing to accept an offer that sets our public school students up for ongoing disadvantage and a widening funding gap," she said.

Her Victorian counterpart Ben Carroll also noted the federal government's agreement would leave public school learners worse-off, while private schools remained over-funded.

"This is unacceptable," he said.

The Australian Education Union has taken issue with the Tasmanian funding agreement, claiming its four per cent "additional allowance" amounted to an "accounting trick" as it can be spent on capital depreciation, regulatory bodies and other non-school based costs not intended to be covered by the Schooling Resource Standard.

"This is a cloak-and-dagger deal that will rob this generation of Tasmanian children of the education funding they need," David Genford, the union's Tasmanian branch president, said.

But Federal Education Minister Jason Clare maintained the allowance would be spent on educational purposes and was part of the Schooling Resource Standard as it covered things like school transport.

The hold-out states have been asked to provide their position on the deal by the end of September.

If the stalemate persists, the current arrangement will continue and the federal government's funding will stay at 20 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard with state contributions at 75 per cent - maintaining a five per cent shortfall.