GETTING the states and territories to agree on education funding reform could be the most difficult aspect of the federal government's response to the Gonski review.

Western Australian Liberal Premier Colin Barnett on Tuesday claimed the report's recommendations would amount to federal meddling in government schools, which are the prevail of the states and territories.

Noting the overwhelming majority of government schools funding was borne by the state, Mr Barnett said: ''This is the Commonwealth saying we want your money, we want to pool it, and we now want to administer state government schools. Sorry, ain't gonna happen.''

Speaking after the first of an extensive series of consultation meetings, School Education Minister Peter Garrett insisted the government was ''not in any way talking about administering or taking over state school systems''.

''But we have a national interest in making sure that the funding that the Commonwealth provides and the resources that are provided by the states as well are directed in such a way to get the best education possible for kids wherever they're living and regardless of how much money their parents earn,'' he said.

But Victorian Liberal Education Minister Martin Dixon said other states and territories shared Mr Barnett's concerns.

The federal government has said it wants to introduce legislation by the end of the year, but Mr Dixon said that given the complexity of negotiations, ''it'll either be sham consultation leading up to it, or sham legislation''.

''States - and I don't think it's a policy thing, regardless of their policies - jealously guard the portfolios of their states, and especially in areas like health and education, where we are the primary providers of that service,'' he said.

Mr Dixon's New South Wales counterpart, Adrian Piccoli, said the state would ''never'' give up responsibility for schools.

Mr Garrett said after extensive consultation over 18 months - which included 7000 submissions and meetings with education groups and others - the focus would now turn to talks with states and territories.

''The Commonwealth government, the state governments, the school systems, the parents and the students all have an interest in us getting this right, all have an interest in us doing this job in a constructive and mannered way,'' he said.

With ANNA PATTY