Garrett urges premiers to sign school deal School Education Minister Peter Garrett says premiers need to put the interest of students first. SCHOOL Education Minister Peter Garrett has made a final pitch to premiers to approve the government's education funding package, suggesting they put the interest of students ahead of politics. Mr Garrett says he remains hopeful of an agreement at Friday's meeting of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in Canberra, with only West Australian Premier Colin Barnett ruling out any compromise. Mr Garrett says this COAG meeting has been preceded by an outbreak of politics. "If ministers and premiers come to COAG with a view to basically playing out a political exchange and we don't put the interest of students in schools first, then we run the risk of not securing a reform that is so urgently needed in our schools and which the community and the public expect us to reach," he told ABC radio. Prime Minister Julia Gillard has given the states and territories until June 30 to sign up to an education funding overhaul which would require them to contribute 35 per cent of the extra $14.5 billion for schools and increase education spending by an indexed three per cent a year in return for federal increments of 4.7 per cent. Mr Garrett says the government isn't planning to stump up any more cash than what's in the package.