The money set aside for Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory will be returned to the federal vaults after the three refused to sign up for a deal on school funding reforms.

Reports say $884 million had been set aside for Queensland schools, $211 million for Western Australia and $65 million for the Northern Territory, now all of those funds will be returned as the three governments elect to stick with the old model.

The total savings from QLD, WA and NT’s abstinence is estimated around $1.2 billion, broken down into $118.2m this financial year, $222.9m next year, $352m in 2015-16 and $510.2m in 2016-17 in Labor’s pre-election economic and fiscal outlook.

There will be $43 million allocated to the continuation of National Partnership programs in disadvantaged public schools. The rate of increase for the states that have agreed has not yet been announced, but has been speculated to be less than the 4.7 per cent originally guaranteed.