Lula government does not pay for school transport program – 04/10/2024 – Education

The Ministry of Education of the Lula government (PT), led by Camilo Santana, has been delaying federal money for school transport since February throughout Brazil. The first of ten installments was supposed to be paid at the start of classes, but not a penny has reached the networks so far.

The program has a budget of R$872 million this year. Therefore, it was expected that city halls and states had already received at least around R$174 million, referring to installments for February and March.

The money from PNATE (National School Transport Program) is intended to support basic education teaching networks in the access and retention of students, especially in rural areas. The program is aimed at covering maintenance expenses, ranging from fuel to the purchase of tires, insurance or taxes.

The funding covers part of the network’s school transport costs and is essential, especially for poorer cities, in day-to-day classes.

Last year, 5,302 municipalities and 13 states received resources throughout the year. Of the municipalities affected by the delay, 40% are in the North and Northeast regions. But the program reaches the entire country.

The resources are operated by the FNDE (National Education Development Fund), which is linked to the MEC (Ministry of Education). The body is chaired by Fernanda Pacobahyba, Camilo’s nominee and who was Secretary of Finance for the state of Ceará when the minister was governor.

Under Lula, the MEC and FNDE had budget increases, but have faced problems with the budget execution of several actions, including government flags.

This happened last year with the government’s new literacy project, for example. The MEC closed 2023 with R$318.7 million paid, equivalent to 45% of the allocation.

The delay in the transfer of PNATE was due to, according to reports obtained by the report, the MEC planned to change the transfer schedule, but was late in defining a new resolution on the topic. Instead of ten installments, the program will be executed in two.

In any case, the first of these two installments should have been released in March, which did not happen.

According to senior members of the ministry, the expected resolution was also delayed because of the MEC’s ​​investment in relaunching in several states the same scholarship program for high school students announced at the beginning of the year, Pé-de-Meia.

A Sheet asked the Ministry on Tuesday morning (9). Hours later, Camilo published a video on social media, alongside Pacobahyba, in which he not only ignores the delay, but says the opposite: “Money for school transport arriving faster”, says the caption of the publication.

The minister himself says that he only signed the resolution on Tuesday — with a delay of more than two months, therefore, than required by the legislation in force until then.

“We will be signing a resolution today changing the method of payment for transfers of the national school transport program”, says the minister. Pacobahyba, alongside Camilo, talks about the importance of the program. “We know the importance of this program in the very structuring of basic education.”

MEC and FNDE did not respond to the report’s questions. In the video published on the minister’s social networks, the government states that this month it will transfer the first installment in a total amount of R$436 million. The rest will come out in August.

The PNATE provides for automatic transfers, and does not depend on an agreement with the MEC. The calculation of the amount of financial resources allocated to federated entities is based on cross-referencing data from the school census.

Undime, an organization that represents municipal education secretaries, received complaints from municipalities about the lack of resources. When contacted, the organization preferred not to comment on the delay as it understands that there is already a new criterion.