But on Wednesday the Turnbull government finally locked in the numbers it needed for a victory on its Gonski 2.0 school funding package by agreeing to fast-track its spending plan and pump an extra $5 billion into the nation’s schools.

To seal the deal, the government agreed to major concessions including speeding up the delivery of the package from 10 years to six – a proposal that won backing from Nick Xenophon, Derryn Hinch, Jacqui Lambie and Lucy Gichuhi.

But it was a decision that had a mixed reception since the federal budget arrived on May 9 – with Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall labelling the initial delivery model as “diet Gonski”.

Mr Marshall said the new plan represented a fraction of the benefits anticipated under the original Gonski funding agreement that the state signed on for in 2013.

“Country schools benefit the most from a needs-based scheme because the old antiquated scheme saw the vast majority of the money going to metropolitan schools,” he said last month.

“Regarding educational student learning outcomes, there has always been a huge gap between country students and city students.”

The victory will also be a blow to Labor, the Catholic education sector and Australian Education Union, which all campaigned against the new model.

Glen Innes Teacher’s Association Vice President Mercurius Goldstein said the NSW Department of Education and local schools were still in the dark.

“Our sympathies are with the NSW Department officials and the Ministers who have been counting on an agreement that they had with the Commonwealth and are now being deserted at the last minute,” he said.

​More to come.