8.1 Preuniversity education responsibilities of governments in Brazil

professional development as long as they are aligned with the national guidelines. At the implementation level, states and municipalities hire teachers, provide in-service training, and monitor their performance. They also maintain school infrastructure, manage the school calendar, and are responsible for providing meals, transportation, and uniforms to students. In monitoring the policy, the ministry of Education (mEC) is responsible for conducting standardized student learning assessments, but many states have their own exams, and some states allow their municipalities to participate in the state exams. municipal and state governments are responsible for expenditures, but the federal government plays a redistributive role by topping up resources for poorer states through FUNDEB and by providing education inputs through specific programs such as school meals, transportation, and textbooks, which are distributed according to student enrollment. The division of responsibility is shown in table 8.1.

TABLE 8.1 Preuniversity education responsibilities of governments in Brazil

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

Policy formulation • National Education Plan with goals for pre university education • National Common Curricular Base (BNCC) • Teacher minimum wage • Funding formula rules • Terms and conditions for earmarked funding • Approval of national programs • Curriculum • Teacher career and workload, including wages and incentives • Teacher training directives • School infrastructure directives

Policy implementation • Education delivery in a few federal schools only

Monitoring • Assessment of learning outcomes through external evaluations of all students at the end of each education level (grades 3, 5, 9, and 12)

SUBNATIONAL GOVERNMENTS (STATE AND MUNICIPAL SCHOOL NETWORKS)

• Teacher hiring and firing processes • Teacher training • Supervising and evaluating teachers • Selection and coordination of school leadership • Infrastructure and maintenance of schools • Textbook selection • Transportation for students • Student uniforms • School meals • School calendar • Budget management (including

FUNDEB and own resources)

• Assessment of learning outcomes by some of the larger municipalities and most states in Brazil through their own standardized student evaluations; some states allow their municipal school networks to participate in the exams • School infrastructure • Teacher performance • Oversight of private schools (curriculum alignment, teachers’ working conditions, and school infrastructure)

TABLE 8.1, continued

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

Financing • Tops up funding for poorer states through FUNDEB • Provides some school inputs, such as textbooks, school meals, and transportation through the National Fund for

Education Development (FNDE), mostly based on student enrollment • Provides transfers directly to schools for small repairs or investments through the

Money Direct to School Program (PDDE) • Teacher salaries (partly covered by

FUNDEB) • School utilities and maintenance (partly covered by FUNDEB) • School infrastructure • School meals, student transportation, and additional learning materials

SUBNATIONAL GOVERNMENTS (STATE AND MUNICIPAL SCHOOL NETWORKS)

Source: World Bank. Note: FUNDEB = Fund for the Development of Basic Education.

Education spending and finance in Brazil

The Brazilian constitution establishes the decentralized provision and financing of preuniversity education and primary health care, with states and municipalities depending on a system of intergovernmental transfers to deliver these public services. The Constitution also mandated that subnational governments spend at least 25 percent of their revenues on education. The tax revenues of states and municipalities are not sufficient to cover the expenses of providing these services, especially at the municipal level (see figure 8.2), which is why a system of intergovernmental transfers was created.

Transfers from the federal government account for 63 percent and 22 percent of the current revenues of municipalities and states, respectively. States rely less on transfers than municipalities because they collect the ICmS, one of Brazil’s two consumption taxes and the largest source of tax revenue in the country. The states that are most dependent on federal transfers are in the poorest regions of the country, the North and the Northeast, while almost all municipalities depend heavily on both federal and state transfers. About 88 percent of municipalities in Brazil have fewer than 50,000 inhabitants, and transfers account for 80 percent of their total revenue. The only exceptions are the most populous municipalities, which have a larger revenue base (see figures 8.2 and 8.3).

The smaller the subnational government, the greater the need for education transfers. Funding for education delivery at the state and municipal levels comes from both own-source revenues and intergovernmental transfers, with the relative shares greatly depending on the size and prosperity of the municipality or state. Larger and richer states and municipalities depend less on transfers, whereas they are vital for the smaller and poorer state and municipal governments. Poor and small municipalities also critically depend on state government transfers, regardless of the size of their state. municipalities carry most of the responsibility for education expenditure in Brazil. Almost 60 percent of preuniversity students are enrolled in municipal school networks, which also account for the highest share of education spending at 42 percent. Education represents 26 percent of the total spending of municipal governments, significantly higher than that for the states and the federal