The Coalition government announced a $1.2 billion increase in education funding for 2018-20 but Teachers Federation Dubbo organiser Duncan McDonald said it fell well short of the $4.5 billion that would have funded the final two years of the reforms outlined in the Gonski report.

Labor has already said it will fund Gonski in full if elected.

Teachers Federation Dubbo organiser Duncan McDonald said there was a "stark contrast" between the Coalition and Labor policies and he believed the effects would be felt worst in regional areas.

"The greatest impact of the Gonski reforms was going to be for those students who have the greatest needs. The full and proper Gonski reforms targeted students from rural, regional and isolated areas, Indigenous students, students who have low levels of literacy and numeracy and students from low SES [socio-economic status] backgrounds," he said. "The full six years of Gonski was designed to bring all schools up to standard."

Mr McDonald said the government had provided very little detail on how it would use the $1.2 billion. He said just as important as the money the Gonski reforms provided, was the framework for how it would be used.

"It was needs-based funding where the money went where it was needed the most. The architecture of the report was critical," he said.

Schools in Western NSW stood to gain the most from Gonski, Labor candidate for the Parkes electorate Kate Stewart said. She questioned how the government's $1.2 billion could be more effective than the plan laid out in the Gonski report.

"Before the last election the government said it would fund the whole Gonski, then after the election they said we couldn't possibly do that. My understanding that what they are proposing now is to provide funding that is roughly one-quarter of the minimum funding requirement," she said.

"[Education Minister] Simon Birmingham said this will ensure money will go to where it is needed. We already did a major review on education, it was called the Gonski report and it said the minimum funding needed to bring all schools up to standard included $4.5 billion for the final two years."

Nationals MP for Parkes Mark Coulton said he wanted schools in the Parkes electorate to meet a high standard and said the Coalition's funding would target schools in need to help them reach that standard.

"This is a critical point for every school in the federal electorate of Parkes. We have a lot of disadvantaged students out here in Western NSW and ultimately I want them to have the same access to quality education like their counterparts in the cities," Mr Coulton said.

"To achieve this we need to ensure that future funding will not only be needs based, but as outlined in our Quality Schools, Quality Outcomes plan, will also be tied to ensuring that those reforms the evidence says have most impact on student performance are actually implemented."