Australian public school funding falls behind as states fail to meet targets

Calls for special deal to be struck for NT which has biggest funding gap between public and private schools

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Public school funding is falling behind private schools in part due to the states failing to meet the targets set for them six years ago, spurring calls for a special deal to be struck for the Northern Territory which has the biggest gap.

In 2017, when the Turnbull government announced education reforms under the banner of Gonski 2.0, the target was for all schools to be funded to their school resourcing standard (SRS) - a needs-based model designed to provide a baseline education to students by 2023.