What is the cost of the right to quality public education?

Abstract

This article proposes analyzing the challenges to the public budget and to the school funding from a quality standard of reference. The unit of analysis is the population of Brazilian municipalities, which are responsible for 59.4% of public school enrollments. The database refers to the "Report of the needed budget by Federal Entity" provided by the Simulator of Cost-Student Quality (SimCAQ), for 2019. The study indicates the need for budget complementation in the amount of R$ 53.7 billion, to be paid to 96.4% of the municipalities in order that, in attention to the constitutional principle of quality, the population of municipal public school networks achieves a minimum standard below which no school would ever have to be. If common parameters were applied, relative to inputs and monetary resources, it is noted that half of the municipalities would reach a CAQ of up to R$ 765, a value 2.5 times greater than the national minimum annual value per student stipulated for 2020. The significant national inequality highlights the need for a more prominent role of the Union, in its redistributive and supplementary functions, to ensure the right to education in quality conditions for all and each of its holders.