SP City Hall will take over 50 state schools – 01/05/2024 – Education

The Ricardo Nunes (MDB) administration will municipalize 50 schools in the capital of São Paulo, which are under the responsibility of the state government of Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans). The transfer of administration begins this year, with 25 units. The rest will be transferred in 2025.

Only schools that serve the initial years of primary education (from the 1st to the 5th year) will be municipalized, and the change is estimated to impact 25 thousand children. The transfer of these students’ enrollment represents an increase of more than 10% in the volume of current students in the municipal network at this stage (around 223 thousand).

In addition to the significant increase in the number of students, the City of São Paulo will also start to manage units in old buildings whose maintenance is outdated due to the high cost, such as the state schools Pedro 2º and Marechal Deodoro, both in the central region and listed as historical heritage.

Even so, the city hall did not present an estimate of the costs of municipalizing the units. The change occurs precisely in the year in which the municipality will lose around R$414 million in transfers from the Union for Education – after the Federal Supreme Court decided that due to a change in the calculation of the transfer of education salaries.

According to the SME (Municipal Education Department), the measure aims to adapt the State of São Paulo to what is stipulated in the 1988 Federal Constitution, which defines municipalities as being primarily responsible for elementary education and early childhood education.

Although the proposal was formally presented by the city hall, the municipalization of this teaching stage has been defended internally by the Tarcísio administration since last year. Renato Feder’s team, which heads São Paulo’s education, argues that the transfer of these enrollments will allow the state to focus actions and programs on the final years of primary education and, above all, on secondary education. In addition to saving resources.

With Nunes seeking the governor’s support in the election, the proposal to municipalize schools and receive more students, especially in a year with fewer resources expected for Education, is seen as a nod to collaboration.

For years, state secretaries have tried to transfer schools to municipal management to streamline the São Paulo state network – which is the largest in the country, with more than 3.5 million students –, but without success. The capital of São Paulo has also always been more resistant to this movement.

Although the Constitution provides that municipalities are primarily responsible for enrollment in the initial years of elementary school, the capital of São Paulo has for years had the demand for this stage best met by the state network.

According to the latest School Census, state schools serve 327.5 thousand students from the 1st to the 5th year. The municipal network in São Paulo serves almost 30% less, with 223 thousand enrollments. A similar situation occurs in other large cities in the state, such as Guarulhos, Campinas and Santos.

“The complexity of transferring enrollments at this stage has always been greater in large municipalities, because it requires budgetary preparation, adaptation for hiring teachers, alignment with the pedagogical part. It is fearful that such a complex process is being done in a rush”, says Cesar Callegari, president of the Brazilian Institute of Applied Sociology.

According to the specialist, who worked in the municipal and state education departments of São Paulo, the municipalization of this stage increased in the 1990s. “In most states, municipalization was carried out gradually, with municipalities building new schools to offer more enrollments. The transfer of management leaves teachers in limbo, because they lose the professional trajectory they had in the previous network”, explains Callegari.

For educator Rose Neubauer, who was state Secretary of Education, the transfer of schools to the city hall is beneficial, both from a pedagogical and unit management point of view. “The municipality is responsible for offering early childhood education, so it is natural that it will be able to do a better and more continuous job in the next stage, which is the initial years. Pedagogically it is more advantageous for the municipality to have more enrollments in this next stage.”

“School management also benefits from municipalization, because they become part of a smaller network, are closer to central management and are able to more quickly address problems that occur in the units”, says Neubauer.

According to the State Department of Education, teachers from these units will be able to remain working in the same schools for the next two years in a “removed to the municipality” situation or they can try to be assigned to classes in other state units, if they prefer.

It also says that, during this period, the salaries of professionals in municipal schools will be paid by the State, without any harm to the professionals. The SME informed that teachers who wish to continue in the units that will be affected will receive training to apply the school curriculum in the city of São Paulo.

In an exchange of documents, in which the two departments agreed on negotiations for the municipalization of the units, there was a list of schools that would have their administration transferred. The document was released by state deputy Carlos Giannazi (PSOL), who is against the process and says he will contact the Public Ministry.

In a note, the two departments said that negotiations began in August and the completion of the municipalization process ends at the beginning of February this year, at the beginning of the school year.

“The criteria for choosing school units take into account regions that do not have municipal schools, or the majority of services are provided by the state network, enabling better organization of education networks and services in the city”, said the SME.

According to the city hall, with the measure, schools will now have all municipal student support services, such as credits for materials and uniforms, Free School Transport (TEG), meals, cleaning and building maintenance.

When asked about the intention to municipalize more schools in the capital and other cities, the Tarcísio administration did not respond.

See the list of schools that should be municipalized:

In 2024

• Adalgiza Segurado da Silveira (DRE Centro Oeste)
• Professor Luiz Cintra do Prado (DRE Centro Oeste)
• Professor Aparecida de Lourdes Morais Araújo (DRE Sul 2)
• Professor Belkice Manhães Reis (DRE Sul 3)
• Professor Clarina Amaral Gurgel (DRE Sul 3)
• Professor Osmar Bastos Conceição (DRE Norte1)
• Professor José Carlos Dias (DRE Centro)
• Camilo Castelo Branco (DRE Leste 3)
• Father Giorgio Gagliani Caputo (DRE Leste 2)
• Artur Saboia (DRE Central South)
• Marshal Deodoro (DRE Centro)
• A Hebraica (DRE Leste 4)
• Professor Lina da Costa Couto (DRE Leste 4)
• Professor Maria Paula Marcondes Domingues (DRE Norte 2)
• Professor Dirce Pastore Donato (DRE North 2)
• Professor Renato Dias de Araújo (DRE Leste 2)
• José Borges dos Santos Junior (DRE Leste 1)
• Professor Laerte Panighel (DRE Leste 1)
• Professor Adalgise Moreira Pires (DRE Leste 1)
• Professor Eliana Passuelo (DRE North 1)
• Guilherme Kuhlmann (DRE Midwest)
• Manuel Borba Gato (DRE Sul 1)
• Professor João Ernesto de Souza Campos (DRE Sul 1)
• Orlando Silva (DRE Leste 3)
• Professor Julieta Terlizzi Bindo (DRE Leste 4)

In 2025

• Professor Adolfino de Arruda Castanho (DRE Centro Oeste)
• Librarian Maria Luisa Monteiro da Cunha (DRE Centro Oeste)
• Japanese Brazilian (DRE South 1)
• Professor Ernestino Lopes da Silva (DRE Sul 3)
• Professor Gerson de Moura Muzel (DRE Sul 3)
• Professor Dalila de Andrade COSTA (DRE Norte 1)
• Viscount of Taunay (DRE Centro)
• Fulvio Abramo (DRE Leste 3)
• Professor Ines Brega Cordeiro (DRE Leste 3)
• Paulo Machado de Carvalho (DRE Centro)
• Arthur Guimarães (DRE Centro)
• Professor Maria Jose Barone (DRE East 4)
• Professor Edson Luiz Ribeiro (DRE Leste 1)
• Professor Luzia Godoy (DRE Norte 2)
• Julio Maia (DRE Leste 5)
• Thomaz Rodrigues Alckmin (DRE Leste 2)
• Dr. Lauro Celidonio Gomes dos Reis (DRE Leste 2)
• Jaime Cortesão (DRE Leste 5)
• Erasmo Braga (DRE Leste 5)
• Pedro II (DRE Centro)
• Professor Regiane do Carmo Monteiro (DRE North 1)
• Judge José Cavalcanti Silva (DRE Sul 1)
• Luiza Marcelina Branca Chaib (DRE Sul 1)
• Walter Belian (DRE Leste 4)
• Professor Valentim Carra (DRE Leste 3)