O plano de ações articuladas: um olhar sobre a autonomia municipal

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the Joint Action Plan (PAR) in the city of Juiz de Fora, trying to understand the nature of its educational system‟s autonomy concerning its implementation to the Plan. To better understand the issue under study, some subjects were chosen as the utmost importance, such as the Education Development Plan (PDE), which incorporates the Joint Action Plan (PAR), the centralization/decentralization of educational policies in Brazil, the municipalization of education, explaining the Brazilian federative model established after the 1988 Constitution; municipal autonomy in its context and in the literature used, including the specifics of the region in which the study was conducted. To achieve this goal, a qualitative investigation was carried out, as it favors the understanding of social phenomena that are complex and dynamic. For this research, we analyzed the Ten Year Municipal Educational Plan of Juiz de Fora (PDME-JF), the Joint Action Plan, and the specific issues that make up the region‟s PAR. In addition, we held semi-structured interviews with technicians of the Department of Education who participated in the preparation of the Plan, as well as with a Secretary of Education of Juiz de Fora. The work made it possible to understand the large impact of discontinuity of educational policies to the municipal policy and that, historically, there were times when the city had greater and lesser autonomy. Through the interviews conducted, it was observed that respondents believe the autonomy of the municipal education system in case has not been directly affected by PAR and the implementation of the policy presents compromises due to deficiencies and limitations of the municipality that lie mainly in shortage of financial resources. The survey also showed that the shortage or even absence of these resources was a major inducer of adhesion of the municipality to proposals from the Federal Government. The study of documents showed certain connection between the guidelines and targets presented in PDME and actions proposed in the PAR for the municipality of Juiz de Fora. This confluence denotes that with the 1988 Constitution, the LDB, the PNE and the policies for external evaluation seem to be confirming common referrals in defining public policies for Brazilian education.