Tarcísio appoints businessman with contract with SP on council – 09/21/2023 – Education

The governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans), appointed businessman Jair Ribeiro, a partner in a company that has contracts with the São Paulo government, as a member of the State Education Council.

The appointment of new members was published last Monday (18) in the Official Gazette. By law, the governor is responsible for defining the composition of the council, but the person who nominates the names is the head of the Education Secretariat, a position held by Renato Feder.

Ribeiro is a partner at Proz Educação, which has a contract with the department to offer technical courses to high school students under the Novotec program, created under the João Doria government.

The Department of Education and the businessman claim that the appointment to the council complies with the rules established by law. According to the ministry, Ribeiro has “notorious knowledge and vast experience in education”.

The CEE-SP (State Education Council) is a normative, deliberative and consultative body on the functioning of the public and private educational system in São Paulo. It is made up of 24 advisors who are responsible, for example, for authorizing the opening of new courses or the expansion of technical or higher education places in the state.

The appointment of people linked to the private educational sector is common in both state and national councils. Ribeiro’s appointment, however, raised eyebrows due to the fact that his company has active contracts with the government in the area. This year alone, Proz Educacional has a contract to offer technical courses to 8,719 students from the São Paulo state network.

The fear is that there may be a conflict of interests between Ribeiro’s role as a member of the board and as a partner in an education company.

At the end of August, the council denied, for example, a request made by Proz to open three distance technical education courses. The company requested authorization to offer Real Estate Transactions, Nursing and Radiology courses at the Jabaquara unit, in the south of São Paulo, but the request was rejected due to a lack of relevant information about the organization of technical courses.

One of the Tarcísio government’s main promises for education is precisely the expansion of the supply of technical education in regular schools. As shown by the SheetFeder intends to offer 100 thousand places in ten technical courses in 2024, within the structure of state schools.

The rules for the Paulista Professional Education Program were published at the end of August and provide for the possibility of partnerships with private institutions to offer courses.

Even before Tarcísio took office, Ribeiro was already close to the governor’s team and was part of the transition team in the area of ​​education. He is considered an experienced name in the operation of the São Paulo state network, as he presides over an association that has had an agreement with the government for years.

In addition to being a partner at Proz Educacional, Ribeiro is also the founder and president of Parceiros da Educação, a non-profit association that in 2014, during the Geraldo Alckmin administration, signed an agreement with the Department of Education to guarantee the implementation of the Education Program – São Paulo Commitment. Paul. This program opened the possibility for private organizations to act in the management of public schools in São Paulo.

WHAT THE BUSINESSMAN AND THE GOVERNMENT SAY

Businessman Jair Ribeiro said, in a statement, that he understands his appointment to the council as “another way of contributing to the development of public education in the state of São Paulo” and that this has been “his mission over the last 20 years” as president of Parceiros da Educação, a non-profit organization of which he is president.

He also stated that he has a “minority stake” in Proz Educação and that, upon receiving the appointment, he “promptly communicated to the CEE presidency that he will abstain from any discussion or vote related to the topic of vocational education — a communication that will be made official at the first meeting of the new composition of the entity”.

“In this sense, Jair does not see any possible conflict of interest with the appointment. It is worth noting that Jair does not hold any executive position, nor does he participate in the day-to-day activities of Proz, a company in which he holds only 2.6% of the capital and is a member of the Board of Directors”, he added.

The Education Secretariat said that the appointment of the businessman is in “strict compliance” with the law that governs the organization of the CEE, which establishes that members must have “notorious knowledge and vast experience in education, and must take into account representation of different levels of education, as well as the participation of representatives from public and private education”.

The ministry also highlighted that Ribeiro was already a councilor in São Paulo, from 2013 to 2019. It also said that the businessman must declare himself prevented from voting on matters in which he may have an interest.

“As in other similar bodies, council members must declare that they are unable to participate in discussions and votes that involve matters in which they or blood relatives up to the third degree have an interest, as well as in matters related to people or institutions that they represent .”