Government more than doubles cash for school computers

The Federal Government will boost funding for its computers in schools program after complaints from the states and territories that the scheme was under-funded.

The states told the Federal Government its original funding of $1,000 per computer would not cover installation, maintenance and upgrade costs.

The Commonwealth will offer $2,400 per computer at tomorrow's Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting in Canberra.

That would bring the total cost of the National Secondary Schools Computer Fund to about $2 billion.

"When states and territories are purchasing computers, they get significant advantages because of the size of purchase they're making," Education Minister Julia Gillard said.

"So we believe the amount of money in total will enable them to purchase computers and deploy them in schools."

Ms Gillard says the extra money will cover purchasing, installation and maintenance costs.

"The states have to respond for themselves, but I would say this is a very, very fair package which meets legitimate costs, which will enable a state like New South Wales to facilitate students getting computers," she said.