Gonski and Indigenous Schools

The promise of $5.5 billion to narrow the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous students will be at risk if the states do not sign up to the Gillard government's plan for school improvement, Schools Minister Peter Garrett has warned.

More than $200 million is earmarked to improve the results of about 11,500 indigenous students in more than 1500 Victorian schools under the plan that so far has been resisted by Premier Denis Napthine.

The plan has been dubbed a potential ''game-changer'' by indigenous academic Professor Marcia Langton, provided it is properly backed.

''If the public system is able to engage indigenous students at the primary and secondary level and lift completion rates, that would close the gap faster than any other initiative,'' Professor Langton told The Sunday Age.

Figures to be released on Sunday show a special ''indigenous loading'' under the plan will mean an average of about $30,000 in extra funding for each of an estimated 200,000 indigenous students over a six-year transition to a new funding model.

Mr Garrett said the plan would expand targeted funding that had dramatically improved results in some areas since 2009, and help close a gap in which the reading and numeracy skills of indigenous students are two to three years behind the average for non-indigenous students.

''Education is the passport out of poverty for many indigenous students, yet we are still leaving thousands of kids behind,'' Mr Garrett said.

''New South Wales has shown the way by signing up to our plan and delivering a better deal for almost 54,000 Aboriginal students in that state.

''It's now up to other state and territory leaders to show they care about delivering a better future for young indigenous Australians, and sign up to our plan.''

Read more in the Age