Former panellists unite in support of Gonski reforms Former members of the Gonski review panel have joined a formal coalition of school principals, charities and church groups calling on the federal government to use the "Gonski" model to fund Australia's schools. They have also signed an open letter to federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne in which they urge the federal government to stick to its election promise to roll out the Gonski model, rather than another system. The news comes as state and territory education ministers plan to meet with Mr Pyne in Canberra on Friday, and as the fallout continues from the Coalition's surprise retreat this week from the new schools funding system. On Thursday Labor leader Bill Shorten accused the Abbott government of lying about its plans for school funding before the election held in September. Mr Pyne quickly dismissed Mr Shorten's comments, pointing to the role Mr Shorten played in Labor's leadership turmoil of recent years, switching his support from Kevin Rudd to Julia Gillard, and then back again. Now three former members of the Gonski review panel - Ken Boston, Carmen Lawrence and Kathryn Greiner - have joined a group called the "Need to Succeed Alliance" to try to convince Mr Pyne and the Abbott government to reverse its decision to dump the Gonski funding model in favour of another "needs-based" system. The group comprises more than 70 church, charity and school groups and individuals, and will have an accompanying website, Facebook page and Twitter account to promote the idea that the Gonski funding model for schools ought to be implemented at a national level. Mr Boston said the idea to form the group was raised weeks ago but it was only officially named on Monday this week. He said the group would be "interested and independent" and its role would be to monitor the way the debate evolves over the next few months "at both commonwealth and state level." In an open letter to Mr Pyne, published on Friday, the group says the old Howard-era school funding model was no longer working and the Gonski model provided the best funding option. "The current SES (socio-economic status) model of funding is no longer answering students' needs and the performance of Australian students has declined," the letter says. If this continues, Australia risks being left behind. The risk is greatest for our poorest and most disadvantaged students. We ... urge the federal Government to keep their 'unity ticket on Gonski' election promise by rolling out the Gonski funding according to need for the next four years. We also urge you to implement the spirit of Gonski by extending it to the full six years. He also said he does not want to implement the Howard government's socio-economic status school funding model. "That will not be the basis of a new funding model because we've moved beyond that," the Education Minister said. I've never said that we will now reintroduce the previous government's model, I have never said that, but I have defended it because it was needs-based for non-government schooling. Mr Pyne this week promised an extra $230 million for states that did not sign up to the former Labor government's Gonski reforms - Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.