Fundeb within the fiscal framework compromises education – 05/19/2023 – Education

The inclusion of Fundeb within the spending limit of the new fiscal framework may result in a reduction in other education expenses, including programs such as lunch, transport and textbooks, indicates a note produced by the Budget and Financial Inspection Consultancy of the Chamber of Deputies .

The fund is the main financing mechanism for basic education, which is why the issue concerns the MEC (Ministry of Education) and parliamentarians linked to the education agenda.

Fundeb was left out of the Expenditure Ceiling, a rule that, since 2016, prevents an increase in expenses above the previous year’s inflation. The new fiscal framework of the Lula government (PT), whose rules will replace the ceiling, reached Congress keeping the fund out of the calculation of limits.

However, the rapporteur on the subject in the Chamber, Deputy Cláudio Cajado (PP-BA), changed the text and included the fund’s resources among the costs of calculating the limit.

The note from the Chamber’s consultancy, to which the Sheet had access, points out that this will have an impact on the reduction of other expenses in the area and will hinder the necessary improvements in the Brazilian educational system.

“The inclusion of the Union supplement among expenses limited by the fiscal framework will force the reduction of other expenses, including educational programs, such as meals and school transport, in addition to textbooks”, says the text.

The fund was renewed in 2020, which increased the Union’s complementation percentages and consolidated the mechanism in the Constitution. This value represented 10% of the cake and, after the change in legislation, will progressively increase until it reaches 23% in 2026 — this year, it is 17%, equivalent to R$ 39 billion.

In general, this complementation is directed to the municipalities that most need it. This increase seeks to meet the needs of basic education and equalize the responsibility for spending with states and municipalities.

Today, these are the entities that bear the highest expenses for maintaining the education of 39 million students. The Chamber’s consulting note emphasizes that the exclusion of these amounts from the ceiling made it possible to increase the supplementary resources.

The theme concerns the MEC, according to reports collected from high-ranking members. The top of the portfolio closely monitors the processing of the new framework in Congress and, according to these reports, including Fundeb in the limit will put pressure on the portfolio’s budget.

Parliamentarians linked to the theme articulated to change the text. Deputy Idilvan Alencar (PDT-CE) has already presented an amendment to annul the change made by the rapporteur, leaving Fundeb outside the spending limit.

“If this is maintained, the education sector will be pressured by other expenses. A country that does not have day care for children, where schools do not have psychologists, cannot have education resources impacted by a fiscal target”, he says.

In justifying the amendment, Idilvan points out that the values ​​referring to Fundeb are constitutional transfers, which would prevent the rapporteur from maneuvering. The amendment project dates back to another technical note from the Chamber’s Budget Consultancy (nº 08/2023), which reinforces the fund as a constitutional transfer.

Also contrary to the inclusion of Fundeb in the spending limit, Senator Professor Dorinha Seabra (União-TO) has already met with Deputy Cajado to address the issue.

“Fundeb’s entry is detrimental to education because, by 2026, complementation will grow, but, entering the framework, we start to compete with all areas. So, it is not a new treatment, but one that continues as it is today,” said the senator in a note.

In 2022, during the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government, the then Undersecretary of Budget at the MEC, Adalton Rocha, confirmed that the Spending Ceiling resulted in a drop in the portfolio’s resources from 2018 — even with the fund outside the calculation .

The note from the Chamber’s Consultancy states that the inclusion of the Union’s supplement to Fundeb among the expenses subject to the spending limit would represent a “fiscal restriction”, currently non-existent. “[Isso] make it difficult to reach the minimum standard of quality in basic education, as well as the achievement of the goals foreseen in the national education plan”, says the text, which also points out that the rules of the fund already guarantee that there is no increase in unforeseen expenses in periods of hardship or recession.

“Fundeb is already self-regulating: if collections fall, the Union’s complement to Fundeb automatically decreases in the same proportion”, says the text. The fund is a basket of taxes targeted at education networks based on the number and type of enrollments. From the total of this cake, the Union makes the complementation.