ASSESSMENT OF THE EDUCATION FUNCTION IN THE MUNICIPALITIES OF SÃO PAULO, RIO DE JANEIRO AND BELO HORIZONTE: SOCIAL CHANGE OR INERTIA?

Abstract

This paper aims to assess whether the municipalities of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte were efficient in the management of the fundamental education resources so as to cause change or whether they remained in the social inertia in the years of advertising of IDEB. The inductive method was used along with the methodological school of empiricism, from quantitative measurement. The data were extracted from the electronic sites of the National Treasury Office (STN), of the Anísio Teixeira National Institute of Educational Studies and Research (INEP), of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) and of the Information System on Public Budgets in Education (SIOPE), in the period from 1st to 11th December 2013. The hypotheses tested were: social inertia as a null hypothesis (there has not been effectiveness in the fundamental education policy – technical inefficiency) and social change as an alternative hypothesis (effectiveness in the fundamental education policy – technical efficiency). The research concluded towards the acceptance of the null hypothesis (H₀) – social inertia (there has not been effectiveness in the fundamental education policy) for the municipality of São Paulo in the year 2011, both in the assessment conducted in the decision-making years (2005 to 2011), as well as in the comparative assessment among the three municipalities in the year 2011. The municipalities of Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte were technically efficient in all years and in the comparative assessment (rejects the null hypothesis and accepts the alternative hypothesis – effectiveness in the fundamental education policy).