Chamber approves project that allocates Fundef and Fundeb court orders for teacher payment

On Tuesday (9), the Chamber approved a bill that provides for resources from precatory orders from Fundef and Fundeb to follow the same criteria as education funds and to be used to pay salaries of education professionals.

The bill was approved by 416 votes to 11. Now, it goes to the Senate.

The proposal is part of the agreement to vote on the remainder of the PEC of the precatório — there is a lack of highlights and the second round of the proposed amendment to the Constitution. The intention of the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), is to conclude the vote this Tuesday. The text provides for a limit for payment of court orders (debts of the Union recognized by the courts), which frees up more space in the Budget.

The bill foresees that the resources derived from court decisions referring to Fundef, Fundeb and the new Fundeb are used for the same purpose and in accordance with the same criteria and conditions established for the use of the principal amount of the funds.

Deputy Bacelar (Podemos-BA) defended that the resources follow the same distribution criteria applied by the funds. “After more than a decade of legal disputes, the judiciary recognized that, between 1996 and 2007, the Union failed to transfer more than R$90 billion to Fundef,” he said.

According to him, the recognition did not benefit the teachers. “Both the Federal Court of Accounts and the Executive Power of states and municipalities have denied teachers this right, and the reasoning is straightforward,” he continued.

“If the Union failed to transfer this portion of Fundef to the states and municipalities, a portion on which 60% of resources for the payment of teachers were levied, it is natural that, now that the Union is obliged to replace these losses, the teachers, the retirees and pensioners are entitled to this 60%”.

They would have the right to receive resources for basic education teachers who worked in the public network during the period in which the transfers from Fundef (1997-2006) or Fundeb (2007-2020) occurred.

They will also be able to receive basic education professionals who worked in the state or municipal public network during the period in which the transfers less than permanent Fundeb occurred.

Retired persons who demonstrate effective exercise in public school systems are also contemplated during periods of less transfers of funds, even if they no longer have a direct link with the public administration, and the heirs, in the event of the death of these professionals.

The amount allocated to each professional will be proportional to the working hours and months of exercise in teaching and basic education. It also has an indemnity nature and is not included in the remuneration of active servants or earnings from inactive ones.

States and municipalities will define in specific laws the percentages and criteria for dividing the apportionment among the benefited professionals. The bill provides that the Union will suspend the transfer of voluntary transfers to states and municipalities that do not comply with the precatory allocation rule, including in relation to the percentages destined to teaching professionals and other basic education professionals.

The text is part of the agreement to attract the opposition and approve the precatório PEC. Last Thursday (4), Lira spoke about the topic when defending the PDT vote in favor of the proposal.

“Everything the PDT asked, what these leaders [Wolney Queiroz e André Figueiredo] they asked, it was in defense of education, guidelines for education, guidelines that would benefit teachers with the acquiescence of three members of the North and Northeast front in defense of education,” he said.

In this Tuesday’s session, Lira reinforced that she complies with agreements and praised the PDT. “And I hope that the Federal Senate is able to produce agreements and quickly vote on this text so that it can be regulated in favor of professors.”