Nunes' administration wants to silence school autonomy and criminalize educators.

What is currently underway in the São Paulo Municipal Education Network is an unprecedented attack on the autonomy of public schools and the dignity of their professionals. Mayor Ricardo Nunes' administration, with the support of his base in the City Council, has been adopting authoritarian, punitive, and unconstitutional measures against principals of Municipal Elementary Schools (EMEFs). In the name of a supposed plan to "improve learning," the City Hall is in fact criminalizing school management and dismantling collective pedagogical work in schools.

At the end of 2024, Municipal Law No. 18.221 was approved hastily, without due debate with civil society and education professionals. One of the most serious points was the introduction of Article 44-A into Law No. 14.660/2007, which creates the Individual Development Plan (IDP) for Principals who do not achieve "satisfactory" performance in institutional evaluations. This article authorizes, among other measures, the compulsory removal of Principals, without administrative process, without the right to a full defense, and without any dialogue with the school community. A blatant violation of the Constitution.

In response to this affront, the Workers' Party filed a Direct Action of Unconstitutionality (ADI) with a request for a preliminary injunction to immediately suspend the effectiveness of this provision. The action is based on articles 74 and 90 of the State Constitution and points to violations of the principles of stability in public service (CF, art. 41), due process of law (CF, art. 5, LIV and LV) and democratic management of education (CF, art. 206, VI).

The situation is extremely serious: at the beginning of this year, the City Hall removed 25 principals from their schools, under the pretext of poor performance in educational assessments. None of them had the right to defend themselves. No school community was consulted. No administrative process was initiated. These were summary, political, and persecutory removals, promoted by a government that fears school autonomy and the organization of educators.

Now, this process is expanding. I have received information that the Municipal Education Department is preparing a new list with 41 more schools under intervention, completing the initial plan of 66 EMEFs (Municipal Elementary Schools) "targeted" by the Together for Learning program. Although the Department promises that "there will be no further dismissals," it offers no legal guarantee regarding the procedures and criteria adopted. There are already indications of an expansion of the intervention in EMEFs in DREs (Regional Education Directorates) in the East Zone, revealing the continuation of authoritarianism.

As the jurist Luís Roberto Barroso rightly states, "substantive due process requires that all state interference in the sphere of fundamental rights be legitimate, necessary, and proportionate." The persecution of school principals violates this principle, turns educators into scapegoats, and delegitimizes the efforts of those who fight daily for the quality of public education, even in contexts of extreme social vulnerability.

It is no coincidence that the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Public Defender's Office of the State have already demanded explanations from the City Hall. Nor is it a coincidence that these attacks are linked to the advancement of a privatizing model in São Paulo's education system, showcased by the Liceu Coração de Jesus—a school that selects students, filters demand, and reproduces exclusionary and elitist practices, according to reports from the surrounding population. A model incompatible with the principles of an inclusive, free, and universal public education.

As Paulo Freire taught us, "there is no more or less knowledge: there are different kinds of knowledge." This knowledge is being fiercely attacked by a management that wants to transform our schools into departments subordinated to corporate goals and logics of control.

The fight to defend school principals is also my personal fight as an activist and parliamentarian committed to public education. It is the principals who build relationships with students, families, and the community. They are the ones who face the lack of resources, the neglect of public policies, and institutional indifference with courage and commitment. Silencing these professionals is to destroy the soul of public education.

I will stand alongside every wronged principal, every school community that rises up, every educator who resists. I will denounce this in plenary sessions, public hearings, demonstrations, visits to Regional Education Offices, and in the media: I will not accept this city project that criminalizes workers and dismantles education as a social right.

Education is a right, not a privilege. Democratic governance is a principle, not a concession. And public servants are not enemies of the people—they are workers committed to the collective interest.