The National Congress enacted, this afternoon (27), the amendment to the Constitution that prevents the punishment of municipal managers that did not apply the minimum percentages of education spending in 2020 and 2021.
The justification for approving the amendment is that the covid-19 pandemic, which forced the suspension of face-to-face classes, and, at the same time, the redirection of funds to the health area, prevented mayors from investing in education the minimum percentage foreseen. in law. Due to the suspension of face-to-face classes, expenses with school transport and lunch were not necessary.
“The interruption or reduction of face-to-face classes led to a significant reduction in expenses related to logistics and physical spaces of the education systems, including those related to the school transport of students”, said the president of the National Congress, Senator Rodrigo Pacheco, during a ceremony of enactment of the amendment.
“The execution of these expenses became, therefore, temporarily unnecessary or reduced, with gradual recomposition, in parallel with the movements of vaccine acquisition and mitigation of social isolation. Ignoring such circumstances and blaming the manager, who is at the forefront, would mean sending a bad signal to the entire community involved with Brazilian public education,” added Pacheco.
The Constitution determines that the Union invests at least 18% in education and states and municipalities at least 25% of the total income from taxes. If the amendment had not been approved in Congress, managers who did not apply the minimum required could face civil or criminal penalties, in addition to administrative sanctions. With the enactment of the amendment, these penalties are removed.
According to a survey by the Senate consultancy, only 280 of the 5,570 municipalities did not comply with the minimum destination, which represents 5% of the total number of municipalities in the country.
