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The Senate reversed last-minute changes in the House and eliminated the possibility of transferring funds from the Basic Education Development Fund (Fundeb) to religious, philanthropic and community schools.
The draft regulation could transfer up to R $ 12.8 billion per year from the public network to these institutions, according to the calculations of Todos pela Educação. The proposal will go back to the House. In practice, the deputies will still be able to rescue the controversial measure.
The delivery of public funds to religious schools of primary and secondary education, approved by the Chamber, was criticized by specialists in the area and considered unconstitutional. The Senate Legislative Consultation affirmed that the device could bring more harm than benefit to Brazilian education, viz. One of the arguments is that public funds can be allocated to philanthropic entities, but as long as there are no vacancies available in the public network.
The Senate vote experienced a turnaround in the negotiations. The rapporteur of the project, Senator Izalci Lucas (PSDB-DF), came to present an opinion at the beginning of the session, maintaining the fund’s forecast for religious entities, but demanding gratification for students whose tuition is financed with public resources. Despite the conditioning rules for philanthropic companies, the opinion did not satisfy the senators, pressured by education professionals.
In the middle of the session, Izalci announced that he will present a new opinion recovering the report presented by deputy Felipe Rigoni (PSB-ES) in the Chamber. Federal deputies will still be able to recover the controversial device. If there is no vote at the end of this week, the regulation may be in the hands of the Executive. “The public authorities continue with the possibility of making agreements with community and confessional schools, but not with Fundeb’s appeal,” said the rapporteur.
Starting in 2021, the Union must increase the complementation of Fundeb’s resources from the current 10% to 23%, in six years. The regulation guarantees the operation of the distribution criteria. As a result, 1,471 cities will receive participation from the Union. The number refers to the poorest municipalities in rich states that did not have the additional resources of the Union.
Fundeb is the main financing mechanism in the sector and moved funds for around R $ 162 billion in 2020. The bill approved by the Chamber delivered up to 10% of the fund’s money to religious or philanthropic, non-profit and affiliated institutions . public schools, primary and secondary. Currently, this is only allowed in early childhood, special and rural education.
Another device withdrawn by the Senate expanded the list of professionals who could be paid their salaries with funds from the fund. According to the Chamber’s text, employees of philanthropic and religious entities, as well as subcontracted employees of the public network, would enter the calculation. The report approved by the senators limits the definition to teachers, psychologists and social workers who work directly in schools. In addition, the Senate withdrew the inclusion of enrollment in vocational secondary education linked to System S (Senai, Sesi and Senac) in Fundeb transfers.
Senators even suggested submitting a bill from scratch to present to the House. Thus, the Senate would give the last word on the text if the deputies insisted on the allocation of resources to religious schools. The president of the Senate, Davi Alcolumbre (DEM-AP, however, rejected the suggestion stating that the Chamber could do the same and provoke a new “swing” of versions. “It will create an institutional mess between the Chamber and the Senate”, set.
