Tasmania Premier Lara Giddings to Sign Better Schools Gonski Deal Tasmanian Premier Lara Giddings is expected to sign up to the schools funding plan on Tuesday afternoon. Photo: Scott Gelston Tasmania is signing up to the federal government's school funding overhaul, the first state to do so after the Labor leadership change disrupted negotiations. Labor Premier Lara Giddings is expected to confirm details of the deal at a media conference in Hobart on Tuesday at 3pm local time. New Federal Education Minister Bill Shorten and his Tasmanian counterpart, Nick McKim, will also front the media. Tasmania becomes the fourth jurisdiction to get on board after NSW, the ACT and South Australia signed up to the so-called Gonski reforms championed by then prime minister Julia Gillard. The rebadged Better Schools reforms would see a base level of funding allocated for each school student, to be topped up with "loadings" targeting disadvantage, from next year. The federal government has argued the reforms would see an extra $15 billion in combined state and federal money flow into schools around the nation over the next six years. But the federal opposition has disputed these figures and described the process as a shambles. It has proposed a year-long extension of the existing funding system and vowed to repeal the reforms if the overwhelming majority of states have not signed up. One of the reasons for the delay in Tasmania signing up was the state's demand for an assurance that its GST funding share would not be put at risk by a separate deal on school funding. The federal government will now turn its efforts to the Coalition-run state of Victoria ahead of the extended Sunday deadline for further deals. Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland are also yet to sign up and have voiced strong opposition to elements of the proposed reforms. While WA is still talking to the federal government, a deal is considered unlikely. Queensland Premier Campbell Newman remains away on leave. But Mr Shorten and his department are in regular "positive" talks with Victoria. Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Shorten vowed to respect "the other people in the negotiation and also the desire of parents to see their kids get a good start." "The Victorian government has got a view though about how the funding should work and we've got to agree on what the numbers actually are," Mr Shorten told ABC Radio. You know, they look at the data and draw one conclusion; we look at the data and draw another. So it is important that in a negotiation that we have the same set of facts. Mr Shorten said he was hopeful of striking a deal with Victoria soon. "It's school holidays, it would be good to see if we could have something to tell parents and kids when they return back from school holidays," he said.