Wodonga Senior Secondary College principal Vern Hilditch suggested the advisory body.

"There's been over the years a disconnect between what works in Melbourne and what works in the bush - a commission would be ongoing to guide policy," he said.

Mr Hilditch also made eight other recommendations including more high-level tutoring for disadvantaged students, establishing federations of schools like the one in Wodonga, and a review of school resource package funding to better align with school aspirations.

Australian Education Union Victoria president Meredith Peace supported those ideas and said many schools would be receiving their indicative budgets this week.

"This is something we've highlighted going back to the original Gonski review, that students in regional and rural Victoria as well as other areas are regarded as a disadvantaged group ... and there should be additional levels of funding," she said.

IN OTHER NEWS:

"There are ways that rural schools are picking up additional funding - the real question is, is it adequate to address some of the challenges they are dealing with?

"The impact of drought, for example, has had a real impact on school enrolments, and then you might find a couple years later those students come back in.

"It is pleasing to see the government has done a review in a relatively short timeframe and moved quickly.

"One of the really positive announcements was the government has allocated close to $8 million to expand professional development for teachers and leaders."

The Border Mail reported on Saturday that schools in the North East have seen a drop in applicants to teaching positions.

Ms Peace said concerns raised about a teacher shortage were "consistent across rural and regional Victoria".

"We are experiencing geographical shortages, but we're also experiencing what could be described as specialist shortages as well," she said.