Readjustment of teachers would cost BRL 19 billion for municipalities – 01/17/2023 – Education

The impact of the salary adjustment for public school teachers, announced this Monday (16) by the MEC (Ministry of Education), should have an impact of R$ 19.4 billion on municipal coffers.

The estimate is from the CNM (National Confederation of Municipalities). The entity argues that the act is illegal and advises city halls not to grant the increase.

The base for teachers reached R$ 4,420.55 this year. An increase of 14.95% in relation to the 2022 floor, which was R$ 3,845.63.

The readjustment of the initial earnings of basic education teachers is determined by the so-called Floor Law, from 2007, which came into effect the following year. This legislation links the increase to the variation in the value per year of Fundeb, the main funding mechanism for basic education.

Thus, the readjustment is not a concession from the federal government nor is there any legal provision for the MEC to make any publication. Historically, however, the Minister of Education publishes an act to indicate the new value — managers await this signal.

The Minister of Education, Camilo Santana (PT), made a point of publishing on his social networks the announcement that he had signed an ordinance with the new value. “The appreciation of our education professionals is a determining factor for the growth of our country”, he said.

Even President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) shared a message from the senator and leader of the government in Congress, Randolfe Rodrigues (Rede-AP), in which it is said that, in two weeks, the government readjusted the salary floor for teachers. The government tries to create a positive agenda after the coup acts.

This interpretation is misleading, since it is the law that defines the readjustment and, above all, it is not the federal government that pays teachers’ salaries. The approximately 2 million basic education teachers are linked to municipal and state networks.

Last year, the Sheet showed that the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government wanted to stop the readjustment of the floor, which was 33.2%, including plans to edit a provisional measure to change the rules. The management backtracked because of the negative impact of the measure in an election year and, later, advertised as if the readjustment were a federal achievement.

As the Fundeb legislation was changed in 2020, with the prediction of more amounts in the total amount, the CNM understands that the Floor Law would have expired. The greater collaboration of the Union in complementing the fund consequently makes the value per student grow regardless of inflation.

The text of the new Fundeb, from 2020, says that “a specific law will provide for the professional salary floor” of the teaching profession. There is a consensus that the law needs to be revised to adapt to the new Fundeb, but Congress did not consider a new project on the subject.

The CNM informed, in a note, that a legislative vacuum puts at risk the legal security of applying the readjustment of the national teaching floor. “The Bolsonaro and Lula governments have, therefore, the same position in relation to the readjustment of the teaching floor, preferring not to consider the federative pact so as not to confront the union movement of teachers”, says the note.

The MEC was approached but did not respond until the publication of this report.

The entity that represents the municipalities has already defended that the teachers’ floor be readjusted only based on inflation, following the INPC (National Consumer Price Index) – which does not provide for real increases. If the INPC were followed, the readjustment would be 6.7%.

“There is no legal basis for the readjustment”, says a note from the entity. The CNM argues that the Floor Law would be revoked, since it mentions the Fundeb text that is no longer in force.

Still according to the CNM text, the confederation highlighted that the readjustment “does not impact the federal government’s accounts”, as those who pay are states and municipalities.

“When it comes to measures that impact the Union’s finances, such as the minimum wage and the per capita value of the National School Feeding Program (Pnae), there is uncertainty about the readjustment”.

Despite the consensus regarding the need to change the floor, specialists, congressmen and union representations of the category affirm that, while there is no new law, the 2007 text remains valid and must be respected.

In a survey carried out by the CNM in 2022 with 4,016 municipalities, around 3,000 readjusted the public teaching staff and 1,721 granted percentages different from those announced by the government. “Which shows that the measure released by the MEC did not have repercussions on all municipal entities”.

The CNM also informs that it maintains the guidance given in early 2022 on which municipalities would not be obliged to “give the readjustment based on a device without legal validity”. “[Que as prefeituras] grant readjustment to teachers considering the inflation of 2022 and the fiscal conditions of the municipality, with equal treatment given to all municipal servants”, says the note.

The PNE (National Education Plan) provides for salary equalization of teachers to the average of professionals with the same title until 2024. On average, basic education teachers earned, in 2012, the equivalent to 65% of the average of other professionals with higher education.

This percentage reached 78% in 2019, but the MEC itself, which made the calculation, says that the increase is largely explained by the 13% decrease in the income of other professionals. There is no more current comparative data.