In a plenary session this Wednesday (22), the Federal Court of Auditors (TCU) upheld a precautionary decision by Minister Augusto Nardes suspending the execution of R$6 billion of the educational support program sock foot. Around 3.9 million low-income students enrolled in public high schools across the country receive financial support. The decision was taken unanimously, but can be appealed. 
With an annual investment of around R$12.5 billion, Pé de Meia pays an allowance of R$200 per student during the school year, in addition to an annual savings of R$1,000 to those who are approved, but which can only be withdrawn at the end of high school. In total, each student can receive up to R$9,200 at the end of the three years of this teaching stage. Established by Law 14,818/2024, the program was created to encourage poor students to remain in school, as Brazil has faced serious problems with school dropout for decades.
Last Friday (19), Nardes had already granted a provisional decision to suspend payments, in the face of an action proposed by deputy attorney general Lucas Rocha Furtado, from the Public Ministry at the TCU (MPTCU), who claimed that the amounts used to the credit of the program were outside the Budget. The alert was maintained by the court’s technical area.
When contacted by the report, the Ministry of Education (MEC), responsible for the program, informed that it will “complement the clarifications in a timely manner”, as soon as the department is notified of the decision. The agency also claimed that “all contributions made to the Pé de Meia program were approved by the National Congress and complied with current budgetary standards.”
The Federal Attorney General’s Office (AGU) reported in a statement that it had appealed the decision, claiming that there was “no illegality” in the transfer of resources between funds and that the precautionary and sudden blocking of more than R$6 billion “will cause irreparable disruption to the program and students”.
“If the TCU’s decision is not reversed, the AGU requests that its effects only occur in 2026 and, in this case, a period of 120 days be granted for the federal government to present a plan to comply with the decision without prejudice to continuity of the program”, says the agency.
Financing
The Pé de Meia program is financed through resources from the Incentive Fund for Permanence in Secondary Education (Fipem), which is private in nature, but which is paid in by investments and financial contributions from the Union itself, and administered by Caixa Econômica Federal. The law allows the federal government to transfer resources to the fund so that the program can be operationalized, but, according to the minister’s conclusion, the flow of payments would not be passing through the General Budget of the Union and, therefore, Nardes ordered Caixa to blocking of R$6 billion from the account.
The MEC is prohibited from using resources from the Educational Credit Operations Guarantee Fund (Fgeduc) and the Operations Guarantee Fund (FGO) without such resources being previously collected into the National Treasury’s Single Account and included in the budget law for the year. in which it is intended to pay in Fipem quotas.
“In the initial instruction, the Audit Unit Specialized in Budget, Taxation and Fiscal Management (AudFiscal) pointed out the use of values from Fgeduc and FGO to pay Fipem quotas without the necessary transit through CUTN [Conta Única do Tesouro Nacional] and by the OGU [Orçamento Geral da União] and, therefore, outside the current budgetary and fiscal rules, such as, for example, the limit on primary expenses established by the Sustainable Fiscal Regime (or New Fiscal Framework) and provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Law (arts. 9 and 26) and Golden Rule (art. 167, item III, of the Federal Constitution)”, says an excerpt from the ruling that maintained the blocking of the program. The court will still analyze the merits of the case, regarding possible non-compliance with budgetary rules, and awaits further manifestations.
