Educational Policy in the State of São Paulo Under the New Public Management (1995-2018)

Abstract

The article analyses the educational policy of São Paulo State between 1995-2018, period that comprises six mandates of Brazilian Social Democracy Party. The corpus of data was made up of the main programs and projects of each mandate. As a theoretical reference that supported the analysis, the concepts of Gramsci’s integral state and hegemony of the dominant classes’ ideology, and the theory of Punctuated Equilibrium were used. Academic studies on some of the programs and projects were also consulted. It was found that the management paradigm adopted by the Secretary of Education since the first term was that of the New Public Management, in line with the option made by the Fernando Henrique Cardoso government at the federal level, in turn aligned with the international order of capitalist system of production. Among the conclusions of the analysis, the following can be highlighted: the implementation of such a management model has been adjusted, expanded and deepened over the successive mandates; resistance, as this does not happens without tensions, dissidents and internal conflicts, such as difficulties and some defeats imposed by questioning movements; the opposition to the constitutional principle of democratic management of public education and the progressive autonomy of the school as determined by the Law of Directives and Bases of National Education. In summary, this management concept, based on business logic, on centralized formulation and decisions and the vertical delegation of tasks to the school, has not been able to fulfil the promise of improving the quality of education.