Prosecutor investigates agreement between the city of SP and Liceu – 02/14/2023 – Education

The Public Prosecutor’s Office of São Paulo instituted a civil inquiry to determine the “constitutionality and legality” of the agreement made by the Ricardo Nunes (MDB) administration with the Liceu Coração de Jesus school.

The mayor decided that he would make an agreement with the private school after the priests, who manage the unit, announced the end of school activities due to insecurity in its surroundings, in the center of São Paulo, aggravated by the dispersion of cracolândia.

The investigation was initiated by prosecutor Silvio Antonio Marques, from the Public Heritage Public Prosecutor’s Office. He gave a period of 20 days for the SME (Municipal Secretary of Education) to present a series of information about the contract signed with the Lyceum.

Sought after, the City Hall of São Paulo had not responded until the publication of this text.

As shown by Sheet, the signing of the agreement with the Lyceum was published in the Official Gazette on December 31 and provides for the monthly payment of BRL 527,000 for the provision of 500 places in early childhood education and in the early years of elementary school (1st to 5th grade). The children have already been selected and are already taking classes at the unit.

Although the format of the agreement with a private entity to offer places in elementary education is a novelty in the city, the city hall did not consult the public or the Legislature on the subject.

The proposal also meets a policy defended by the mayor, the outsourced management of schools. The model, however, suffers resistance and is questioned by professors and specialists in the area.

Since the agreement was announced by Nunes, experts point out that the measure may be considered unconstitutional. This is because paragraph 1 of article 213 of the Constitution says that public resources can only be allocated to community, confessional or philanthropic schools “when there is a lack of vacancies and regular courses in the public network”.

It also says that the government is “obliged to invest primarily in the expansion of its network”. This understanding is reinforced by the Fundeb law (Fund for the Maintenance and Development of Basic Education), which prevents the use of transfers of federal resources to partner schools in elementary education.

The complaint was forwarded to the Public Prosecutor’s Office by councilors Toninho Vespoli and Celso Giannazi, both from PSOL, who asked for the annulment of the agreement.

When opening the investigation, the prosecutor highlighted the arguments that the contract with the Lyceum was signed without discussion with society and without approval from the Legislature and that there may be “misuse of purpose of public funds”, since “there is no information that prove a lack of vacancies in the public network in the region where the school is located”.

For this reason, he requested that the City Hall of São Paulo also inform whether or not there is a lack of vacancies in the central region of the city.

Since announcing the partnership, the city hall has said that there is no impediment to the agreement with the Lyceum. In an interview with SheetBruno Lopes Correia, Deputy Secretary of Education, stated that the municipality is “completely sure” that there is no illegality in the model.