Lula management slips in the execution of resources for education – 01/04/2024 – Education

In the first year of the Lula (PT) government, the MEC (Ministry of Education) resumed a role of inducing structuring public policies, emptied during the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) administration. But the new phase was accompanied by difficulties in implementing resources and also in dialogue with education networks and Congress — which was exposed, for example, with the so far unsuccessful attempt to review the new secondary education.

The MEC had its operational capacity emptied over four years under Bolsonaro, with an education management marked by rotations of ministers, criminal investigations and ideological clashes. Lula took office, therefore, under the expectation of reconstruction in the area.

Still during the transition, the government included an increase of R$11 billion in the MEC’s ​​budget in an amendment to the Constitution, in relation to what was predicted by Bolsonaro’s team. Budget recomposition became a central focus: resources for school meals, research grants and the budget of federal universities increased, for example.

But the first year of the government was one of difficulties in applying resources. When excluding the items related to Fundeb (funding mechanism for basic education with guaranteed transfers), the amount spent by the MEC was greater than in 2022, but in a smaller proportion than what was foreseen in the budget.

This year, the ministry paid R$109.9 billion of its budget, equivalent to 84% of the current allocation. In 2022, this percentage was 87%, in a paid volume of R$97.9 billion (in today’s values, updated for inflation).

Furthermore, a significant part of the money was released only in the last days of the year, which makes it difficult to implement policies and plan education networks. Of the total R$109.9 billion paid, R$9 billion were released in the last four days of 2023 — equivalent to 8% of the total.

The scenario is attributed by MEC experts and employees consulted by the report to internal breakdowns within the team, which had difficulties getting the machine to work satisfactorily. Freezes defined by the economic team also collaborate.

Two public policies placed as priorities are symptoms of this. The government created a new incentive for full-time enrollment with the promise of investing around R$2 billion per year.

As of December 27, only half of the R$2 billion foreseen in the budget had been paid to state and municipal education networks. With releases when the lights go out in 2023, this execution reached R$ 1.9 billion (95%).

In June, the government launched the new National Commitment for Literate Children. The policy foresees a series of federative arrangements to consolidate a system of collaboration between states, municipalities and the Union, which did not stand still — all states and 99.2% of municipalities joined, according to the government.

The promise was of an investment in 2023 of R$1 billion. Until November, the MEC had not committed any amount. Commitment is the first step in budget execution.

As of December 27, only R$195 million of the estimated R$801 million had been paid. The MEC closed the year with R$318.7 million paid, equivalent to 45% of the updated allocation.

With the slow implementation, Commitment actions such as teacher training, making materials and structuring reading corners were compromised. Therefore, the new policy will only arrive in classrooms in 2024.

In a note, the MEC stated that the department resumed dialogue and valorization of the federative pact, “resuming the role of articulator of policies” in collaboration with states and municipalities. “The ministry ends the year with the launch of new educational policies, the resumption and strengthening of established programs and with new projects to rebuild Brazil through public education”, says the note.

When asked about the pace of payments, the department did not respond. It only listed the ministry’s expenses in several areas, including mandatory transfers.

Lula called on the former governor of Ceará and elected senator, Camilo Santana (PT), to lead the department. Behind the decision, in addition to the ally’s accommodation, was also the state’s successful experience in educational assessments, with emphasis on literacy.

Camilo assembled a technical and experienced team, but, as interlocutors assess, a mosaic was created in need of clearer directions. The launch of the literacy program itself, initially promised for the first quarter, only occurred in the middle of the year — which is also cited as a reason for its low implementation.

The delay was also crucial in relation to secondary education. It was only after March, pressured by demonstrations from students and teachers, that the MEC began to act to review the 2017 stage reform. Implemented from 2022, the new model proved to be deficient.

Despite calls for repeal coming from a base close to the PT, Camilo never embraced the idea. He always talked about adjustments.

Then came a public consultation, the suspension of the implementation schedule (in an act more symbolic than practical), the creation of a working group and the discourse that sought consensus.

A bill was only forwarded to Congress in October, providing for an increase in the workload of traditional subjects, and the reduction of in-depth courses — the so-called training itineraries, the center of the biggest complaints.

Representative Mendonça Filho (União-PE), former Minister of Education in the Michel Temer (MDB) government, was appointed as rapporteur for the text in the Chamber, when the reform was established. The act of the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), was a setback for the government, since Mendonça disagreed with the proposal that came out of the MEC.

Mendonça also gained support from Consed, which represents the states’ education secretaries, a group that was previously part of the consensus touted by Camilo Santana. The project was almost voted on at the end of 2023, but the government managed to postpone it until this year.

For USP professor Daniel Cara, the MEC was unable to show a progressive agenda that meets the reality of the country’s schools.

“It’s a featureless management, with announcements that are a museum of great news, and a MEC inoperative. The budget execution proves this”, he says, linked to the National Campaign for the Right to Education and who was part of the transition team.

“He skated and continued to skate through the high school reform because he didn’t have the capacity to maintain an agenda”, says Cara, in favor of the repeal. “The truth is that we don’t know what Camilo thinks about this.”

For Claudia Costin, president of Instituto Singularidades, the balance of the government’s first year is positive, taking into account the literacy policies, full-time, school connection and the minister’s signals in the direction of combating teacher training entirely remotely. She considers, however, that things did not move as quickly as desired, including high school.

“Let’s start the school year and leave students in limbo for a while longer” she says. “There were mistakes by the government and a chance to start with this resolved was lost.”

At the end of the year, the government managed to approve a scholarship program to try to keep poor students in secondary education, seen as having potential for success. The government has already guaranteed R$6.1 billion in 2023 for the initiative, in addition to R$1 billion foreseen in the 2024 budget.