But the funding has been criticised by the Australian Education Union, which says the federal government has no business spending public money on security measures for independent schools.

The Secure Schools Program was introduced in 2007 to help ''protect schools that face a special risk of attack, harassment or violence stemming from racial or religious intolerance''. Labor spent spent $35 million upgrading security at 77 schools across the country.

This included installing security fencing, lighting, CCTV, access control systems and alarm systems.

Jewish schools accounted for about 60 per cent of the funding granted and just 27 per cent were government schools.

In the budget, the Coalition will expand the program to allow schools to spend the funding on private security guards, making good on last year's election promise.

A spokeswoman for Justice Minister Michael Keenan said: ''The Coalition government recognises unique security circumstances that some schools face, and that every child has the right to be safe at school. That is why we will work with schools that face risk of attack, harassment or violence stemming from racial or religious intolerance.''

Last August, Labor also promised to expand the program to include security guards if it won government, vowing to spend an extra $10 million on the program.

Daniel Goulburn, co-chairman of the NSW Jewish Day Schools Co-ordinating Committee, said the 2012 attack in France - in which a rabbi and three students were killed outside a school that had redirected security funding - had resonated with Jewish schools worldwide.

The Australian Council of Jewish Schools, which represents 19 of the 21 Jewish schools in Australia, successfully lobbied Labor to introduce the funding in 2007, after law enforcement agencies found there were particular security threats to Jewish schools from extremists.

Executive director Leonard Hain said every Jewish school already employed security guards and the government funding would ease the costs on parents.

''It's a fundamental principle that every Australian student should be safe in their school,'' he said.

Islamic schools also employ security guards, although at least one was so concerned about security it did not employ guards or advertise itself for fear of drawing attention.

In NSW alone, the Education Department estimates 308 public schools ''need or could benefit'' from full security fencing, and the education union's federal president Angelo Gavrielatos said this should be the government's first priority.

''How can the Abbott government say it hasn't got the money to fund the Gonski reforms or to invest in much needed capital works at public schools when it can afford to pay for security guards at private schools that have already received millions for security measures,'' he said.

''This is also a government that just slashed a $1 billion program for building much-needed trades training centres in schools saying it couldn't afford it.''