The non-government school sector, including Catholic and independent schools, has been the subject of new levels of pre-election largesse from both major parties with the ACT Liberals last month committing $31.4 million to address historic levels of underfunding compared with other states and territories.

But the Australian Education Union, representing ACT government schools and their teachers, expressed concern yesterday that the political orthodoxy of the ACT election campaign was to satisfy the demands of the non-government sector rather than fund the government sector which offered education for all students.

The Association of Independent Schools said the pre-election commitments were ''very exciting'' and parents of non-government school students would welcome their prominence within the election campaign. Executive director Andrew Wrigley said it was now up to the sector to determine which funding promises were worth voting for.

''Of course, both parties have gone about it in very different ways and we need to look closely at their promises and how they would affect our schools. We then need to inform our members on what it means for them.''

Labor has pledged $11 million to a ''Supporting Non-Government Students'' initiative over four years which will target indigenous, non-English speaking, and disadvantaged students as well as those with a disability. It has also allocated $5 million to support non-government preschool education in the ACT for the first time.

The Liberals have promised to increase general recurrent funding for non-government students to 25 per cent of the cost of educating a government school student within two terms of government, or eight years.

This would bring ACT non-government students into line with non-government students across the rest of Australia.

The Association of Parents and Friends of ACT Schools said the policy platforms of both major parties were welcomed by parents who had felt that for too long, non-government schools did not receive adequate political attention.

Association president George Gamkrelidze said: ''Obviously they both have different policies, but the common feature is the recognition of non-government schools and the role they play in the ACT, so that is to be applauded.''

The Catholic Education Commission welcomed Labor's announcement, saying the funding would be a significant step towards achieving 25 per cent of the average cost of educating a student in an ACT government school by 2020.

The director of Catholic Education, Moira Najdecki, said the commitment would enable Catholic schools to ''further assist students in need and to slow fees growth for families in preschools and schools''.

Catholic Education Commission chair Daryl Smeaton said Catholic schools in the ACT desperately needed an increase in recurrent funding as the ACT had both the highest proportion of Catholic school enrolments in Australia and the second-lowest level of government funding.

The ACT also has the highest rates of non-government school enrolments general at 41 per cent compared with a national average of 34.7. This rises to 50.3 per cent in the high school years.

The Australian Education Union said that of the two policies, Labor's at least addressed disadvantage within private schools rather than providing extra funding which would go towards already advantaged students. Labor also tied its non-government policy into future provision of new funding under the Gonski review, which would fund all students according to need.

Union ACT acting branch secretary Glenn Fowler said: ''We think the pressure is now on for both the major parties to come out with bold visions for public education especially given 88 per cent of Australians support an urgent increase in funding for public education.''

ACT Liberals Leader Zed Seselja said there was a ''very clear difference'' between Liberals and Labor school funding policies.

''The Labor Party will continue to see non-government schools in the ACT lag behind their state and territory counterparts, and continue to have inadequate funding.''