New funds to create fairer system for all, says head Bentleigh Secondary College principal Karen Wade loves watching as integration aides help students with learning difficulties exceed their potential. Hiring more support workers is among her first priorities when the extra money flows from the new deal on education funding reform. She said the support workers at her school did a great job but too many students did not receive funding to pay for their own aide. Ms Wade hopes the $12.2 billion in extra funding over the next six years from the state and federal governments will create a fairer system for all students in state schools. "I just see it as a more equitable funding model where money follows students in terms of their needs," she said. Students too often missed out on the funding that could help them to reach their education potential in the state system, she said. Her school has about 20 students with disabilities who qualify for additional funding, but Ms Wade believes many other students also deserved more financial support. Ms Wade has been principal for almost five years at the school, which has about 880 students. She said federal figures showed the college would receive more than $9.4 million in 2014 under the agreement. The school's public funding per student would increase by 46.6 per cent from 2013 to 2019. Ms Wade hopes the new deal will ensure that Victorian students get the help they need without straining their school's budget. "If they move from school to school that funding will go with that student," she said. That's a great thing for all government schools. Sometimes we get funding at the start of the year but if the student leaves the funding might not follow. The funding agreement comes after prolonged lobbying by the Australian Education Union and state school council presidents. Ms Wade expected the deal would buoy staff morale.