Queensland could miss chance to sign up to Gonski education reforms as election called Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek may have missed his chance to sign Queensland up for the Gonski education reforms, as the Federal Government goes into caretaker mode. Picture: Brad Cooper Source: News Limited QUEENSLAND may have missed its chance to sign up to the school funding reforms after the election was called before Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek could talk to his Federal counterpart again on Sunday. Mr Langbroek had earlier indicated he wanted to do a deal similar to the one struck by the Commonwealth with Victoria and was seeking further discussions with Federal Education Minister Bill Shorten. READ MORE: States lose $41bn by holding out on Gonski "Victoria and Queensland were asking for exactly the same things," Mr Langbroek said. We've been discussing these issues for a number of weeks and I welcome these concessions from the Federal Government that have obviously been resolved with Victoria and we're happy to take this deal and we're happy to take it today. The deal with Victoria involved keeping federal bureaucracy out of the state's schools and reducing the amount of funding required by the state. "I say 'Bill, come up and do the deal with us'," Mr Langbroek said. We're happy to do the same deal that you've done with Victoria, a carbon copy, and we'll take it, we'll sign up today. But his efforts to contact Mr Shorten's office yesterday afternoon proved more difficult than expected as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd jetted off to Canberra to visit the Governor-General and announce the September 7 election. Late yesterday, Mr Langbroek's office was "investigating its options" in relation to Gonski. Mr Shorten's office said a deal could not be struck during the caretaker period, but this had not officially started yet as of early yesterday evening. Earlier, a spokeswoman for Mr Shorten said the Minister welcomed Queensland's shift on the Better Schools Plan. But she said the Queensland Government must demonstrate its intention to contribute 3 per cent growth from 2015 onwards if it was to be offered the same deal as Victoria.