Political economy of the state education funding in Brazil

• Grant number: 19/06483-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2019
• End date: December 31, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science - Public Policies
• Principal Investigator: Marta Teresa da Silva Arretche
• Grantee: Lauana Simplicio Pereira
• Host Institution: Centro Brasileiro de Análise e Planejamento (CEBRAP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 13/07616-7 - CEM - Center for Metropolitan Studies, AP.CEPID

Abstract

The most researches on education public finances has mainly focused in local level. Considering the federative pact and the federal induction regulated by Constitution of 1988 for the Education, there is also few understood questions in relation to state funding of Maintenance and Development of Education (MDE). The state levels represent, today, 40% of basic education funding and it is crucial analyses that this volume of resources varies substantially, according to tax potential of each of them. However, we noticed that even the states with similar tax potential present different options of spending education. What are the reasons of these differences? What is the importance of politics in each state? The purpose of this project is identify the structures of the incomes and expenses in MDE of the different Brazilian states, seeking to understand, in a first moment, budget and economical inequalities and/or similarities and, in a second moment, relevant political variables and of the institutional governance in decision-making of the state allocative policy. In this regard, the research will make a quantitative mapping of education spending in the 27 states and qualitative analysis of the determinants of the state allocative policy, from survey of state rules and in-depth interviews with relevant stakeholders in a sample of the states.