Lula government will adjust the value of school lunches by 39% – 03/09/2023 – Education

The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) is expected to announce this Friday (10) a readjustment of up to 39% for transfers to school lunches this year.

The increase in prices for school meals was one of Lula’s main promises during the campaign, as one of the ways to face hunger in the country.

According to a proposal presented by the FNDE (National Fund for the Development of Education), the readjustment of values ​​will increase the budget of the PNAE (National School Feeding Program) to R$ 5.57 billion this year. The program benefits 40 million students enrolled in public educational institutions in Brazil.

Last year, Congress approved an increase in resources for the PNAE in 2023, with the aim of replacing inflationary losses since 2017. Former President Jair Bolsonaro, however, vetoed the readjustment, keeping the value at R$ 4 billion — which represented a loss of R$ 1.4 billion to states and municipalities.

Currently, the Union transfers R$ 0.36 per day to states and municipalities for each elementary and high school student. With the 39% readjustment, this value will increase to R$ 0.50.

For indigenous and quilombola students, the amount will increase from R$0.64 to R$0.86 — a 35% increase. There will also be an adjustment for preschool students, from R$ 0.53 to R$ 0.72.

For six years, the values ​​for the PNAE have not been readjusted. The program provides for transfers of federal resources to states and municipalities, based on the number of students in each network.

As the values ​​are insufficient, states and municipalities use their own resources to finance a large part of school lunches, which, in addition to buying food, also include paying employees.

Replacement of losses for school lunches is considered strategic especially this year. With the increase in hunger in the country, the number of children and young people who have their only meal of the day in the food served in schools has grown.

In justifying the veto, Bolsonaro defended that the readjustment “contradicts the public interest” because it would cause “an increase in budgetary rigidity”, taking away from the federal government the flexibility to allocate resources.