The National Confederation of Education Workers (CNTE) classified the announcement of the readjustment of the national salary floor for teaching for 2026 as a victory for the mobilization of the category., defined in provisional measure (MP) signed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
For this year, the value will be increased by 5.4%, from R$4,867.77 to R$5,130.63, valid for professionals in the public basic education network across the country, working 40 hours a week. The percentage represents a real gain of 1.5% above inflation measured by the National Consumer Price Index (INPC) of 2025, which was 3.9%.
For the president of CNTE, Fátima Silva, the achievement needs to be celebrated, but she pointed to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which places Brazil among the countries that pay teachers the worst, which shows the structural problem of the category.
“Even so, the achievement of a floor with real gains represents an important advance, the result of the mobilization of the category and the permanent struggle for the valorization of public education”, he stated, in a note published by the entity.
According to the CNTE, the readjustment criterion was widely debated within the scope of the Permanent Floor Forum, based on the principles of predictability and budget sustainability. Also according to the entity, the organizations representing the state and municipal education secretaries agreed with the proposal, “reinforcing the agreed, responsible and federative nature of the decision”.
The salary floor is the minimum amount that teachers must earn in Brazil. The legislation determines the annual recovery of the value. The standard defines that the floor will be updated based on the sum of the previous year’s INPC and 50% of the average percentage variation in real revenue, based on the INPC, relating to the contribution of states, the Federal District and municipalities to the Fund for Maintenance and Development of Basic Education and Valorization of Education Professionals (Fundeb), made in the five years prior to the year of the update. The law also establishes that the established percentage can never be lower than the previous year’s inflation, measured by the INPC.
Mayors react
Responsible for paying salaries at the municipal level, the mayors complained about the amount of the adjustment. In a statement, the president of the National Confederation of Municipalities (CNM), Paulo Ziulkoski, expressed his disagreement with the decision. According to him, the estimated impact will be up to R$8 billion on municipal coffers.
“It is unacceptable that, after years of silence in the face of high and illegal adjustments — such as those of 33.24% in 2022, and 14.95% in 2023 —, now, when the index indicates 0.37%, the federal government mobilizes to issue an MP under the argument of ‘injustice’ in the calculation. This inconsistency violates the logic of responsible public management and highlights the political use of an instrument that should be technical and stable”, pointed.
For the CNM, an entity that represents small municipalities, real increases in salaries must be negotiated between the government of each municipality and the respective teaching staff, “as they depend on the fiscal and budgetary conditions of local entities and the limits on personnel expenses under the Fiscal Responsibility Law (LRF)”.
Last week, the National Front of Mayors (FNP), which represents around 400 municipalities with more than 80 thousand inhabitants, had already raised concerns about the readjustment. The entity spoke out after a meeting between the Minister of Education, Camilo Santana, and the Minister of Institutional Relations, Gleisi Hoffmann, with the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, who is president of the FNP.
“Before the meeting, the FNP sent a letter to the minister expressing concern about the announcement of the edition of the Provisional Measure. In the document, signed by Mayor Pedro Almeida (Passo Fundo/RS), president of the entity’s Permanent Education Commission, the FNP reaffirms its commitment to valuing education professionals, but highlights that any change in the floor must consider the fiscal capacity of the municipalities and be accompanied by budgetary responsibility”, he said, in a note.
The federation also reinforced the need to provide resources from the Union to cover any increases that go beyond the parameters currently provided for by law, and pointed out that the readjustment of the floor could compromise the fiscal balance of local entities.
The salaries of basic education professionals are paid by city halls and states using Fundeb resources, as well as supplements from the Union. As it is an MP, the measure is immediately valid, but will need to be confirmed by the National Congress.
The provisional measure will be published in the next edition of the Official Gazette of the Union (DOU), this Thursday (22).
