NSW not after 'wholesale' school autonomy

The O'Farrell government has reacted cautiously to a federal plan to make more schools independent, saying it has no plans to move towards "wholesale autonomy".

Federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne on Monday announced a $70 million plan to help a quarter of Australia's public schools become independent by 2017.

NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli said while he welcomed giving schools more authority on how they spent their money, he believed the state had already "struck the right balance" on the issue of autonomy.

He pointed to recent reforms by the state government designed to give principals up to 70 per cent of the school education budget.

"While we strongly support devolving authority to local schools, we have no plans to move further towards wholesale autonomy," Mr Piccoli said in a statement.

NSW opposition education spokesman Ryan Park said the Liberal Party must stop "foisting its ideological agenda on schools".

He said Mr Pyne's plan would create a two-tier system between "those prepared to fall into line with the Liberal Party's ideological crusade and those who are not".