TAFE Directors Australia's annual meeting, representing the heads of Australia's publicly funded vocational training institutions, will now bring the fight to protect the sector's funding to the federal government.

Overnight on Monday the Productivity Commission said if planned Council of Australian Governments reforms were realised, they would boost gross domestic product by 2 per cent by 2020 and cut unemployment by 0.35 per cent.

The resolution by TAFE Directors Australia follows the Victorian government cutting funding to about 80 per cent of publicly funded courses, which the sector warns will lead to classes closing and jobs being lost.

On Saturday Fairfax revealed federal Tertiary Education Minister Chris Evans wrote to his Victorian counterpart, Peter Hall, asking him to explain how those cuts did not threaten national reforms agreed to at the COAG meeting in April.

At that meeting the states and territories agreed to nationally binding reforms, which would double diploma enrolments by 2020, and funnel $1.75 billion in federal funding to the states and territories - including almost $900 million to NSW and Victoria.

TAFE Directors Australia chief executive Martin Riordan told the meeting the dispute between the federal government and Victoria had emerged because the COAG agreement had merely set out ''principles'' that would help the agreement be reached.

''Clearly the savage cuts make it unclear how in detail these can be delivered,'' Mr Riordan said.

''Certainly equity educational targets [to] which COAG had also earlier committed, to double the number [of] degrees, and significantly lift skill qualifications … will be at risk.''

He said the way those principles would be implemented was still being negotiated, but the Victorian example showed that without clear guidance, states could make major changes to their sector arrangements while getting millions in federal funding under the COAG agreement.

Yesterday, he wrote to Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the states and territories, urging them to adopt four principles to secure the sector's future.

They include adequate funding, enhancing quality standards, flexibility and responsiveness, and recognising the unique roles of TAFE.

''The continued viability of public TAFE institutions … requires fair and adequate funding of TAFE services, to meet community service obligations, and ensure accessible and equitable programs, with support services available to individuals, industries and communities,'' the communique read.

Without mentioning specific threats, Senator Evans told Mr Hall the $434.8 million in Victorian funding due to flow to the state was ''subject to the terms of the agreement being met''.

But Mr Hall's office said Victoria would meet all its obligations under the National Partnership Agreement.