However, there has been concern that some parents could feel pressured to send their children back to attending school in person.

Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan has offered to bring forward 25 per cent of next's year's school funding for Catholic and independent schools if they commit to returning at least half of students by the end of May.

Wagga Christian College principal Phillip Wilson said the school would try to meet the timetable and planned to use the funds to help the school's families who were having financial difficulties.

"It is something that we are going to be pursuing because we're going to be using the money to assist families that are in need," he said.

Mr Wilson said the school was "more than willing" to reopen its classrooms.

"We are on track to open our classes back up fully now that the state government has released us to do that," he said.

"We will meet the [federal] benchmarks regardless of bringing forward the funding...we are also making arrangements for extra cleaning so that's where we will spend money as well."

The federal government is the largest single source of revenue for most of Wagga's independent and Catholic schools.

A spokesperson for Diocese of Wagga Catholic Education Wagga said the organisation would "continue to operate our schools in accordance with NSW Government guidelines".

"Throughout the COVID pandemic, we have continually met the Premier's requests to provide learning from home while keeping our schools open for supervision," the spokesperson said.

"The Premier has now requested that students have a partial return to school while providing learning from home for all students and continued supervision for students of essential workers from week three and we are implementing this throughout the Diocese on a school by school basis, prioritising the health and welfare of all our students, staff and families."

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The federal government's funding advance offer has attracted criticism from groups representing public schools.

Australian Council of State School Organisations president Andrew Bidwell said it was "yet another special funding deal for the non-government sector" and was "nothing short of outrageous".

"If we have learnt nothing else from the COVID-19 pandemic it is that Australia's education systems are absolutely riddled with inequities and that these inequities are for the most part supported by funding from State/Territory and federal governments," he said.

The council stated that "parents should not be pressured into this decision by their school being able to access a special funding deal".

NSW Teachers Federation president Angelo Gavrielatos said that "while the prime minister showers private schools with billions of dollars, public schools are waiting on soap and hand sanitiser".

"And, they have the audacity to lecture us on disadvantage," he said.

Riverina MP and Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said "we know that the best place for students to be learning is in a school environment".

"The federal government continues to follow the expert medical advice of the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, which says it is safe for schools to be open.

"We would like to see all students and teachers to be back in classrooms by 1 June.

"The federal government's offer to bring forward funding to non-government schools, including those in the Wagga region, is about providing financial security as we make the transition back to classroom-based learning."

NSW Labor Senator Deborah O'Neill said the opposition "will examine the detail of this when it's put forward."

"But at first glance, it seems to that this isn't new money - just a slight change in the timing of when money would be forwarded, which of course, will have an impact," she said.