Court of Justice "causes concern" by freezing property taxes and demanding more daycare centers, says secretary.

By Sarah Fernandes, from Current Brazil Network - The municipal secretary of Education of São Paulo, Cesar Callegari, stated that the decision of the Court of Justice to block the increase in the Urban Property and Land Tax (IPTU) last week and, subsequently, to demand the early delivery of new daycare centers, in a judicial decision taken yesterday (16), is "worrying". According to the sentence, resulting from a public civil action filed in 2008, the city hall will have to create 105 places in 18 months.

"This decision, still provisional, from the same Court of Justice that froze property tax revenue last week is worrying," lamented the secretary in an interview with Rádio Brasil Atual. "If this decision prevails, the impact on education will be R$ 249 million less, and within that total, R$ 100 million less that was reserved for the construction of daycare centers and an additional R$ 18 million for expanding agreements and, therefore, for opening new places."

The judges Walter de Almeida Guilherme, Samuel Alves de Melo Júnior, and Antonio José Silveira Paulilo, who make up the Special Chamber of the Court of Justice of São Paulo (TJ-SP), unanimously decided to condemn the municipality to create another 45 places by 2016, totaling 150 new places in early childhood education (daycare and preschool), an amount equivalent to that presented in the government's target plan.

"We have been working towards achieving these goals since the beginning of the year," said the secretary. "We have already delivered 17 new daycare centers and created 12.550 new places, which corresponds to one new daycare center per week. The Ministry of Education has already committed the first resources for the construction of 79 of the 172 planned daycare centers. It is a considerable undertaking to ensure that children in São Paulo have this right guaranteed."

The secretary also stated that he considers the 18-month deadline "unrealistic." "We don't open daycare spots just through sheer willpower. We certainly have the will, but we need the land expropriated and we need the courts to be faster on this," he said. "There's a set of circumstances that I consider quite unrealistic, because a good part of what the government proposes to do will materialize in the final two years."

The lawyer for the social organizations that filed the lawsuit, Salomão Ximenes, stated that he is open to negotiating deadlines, but argued that he believes compliance with the court ruling will not require a much greater effort from the city government than that already put into fulfilling the goals set for Fernando Haddad's term.

The decision also stipulates that the municipal government must present, within 60 days, a detailed plan outlining the pace, locations, and method of expansion, as well as guaranteeing full-time provision, in accordance with the basic quality parameters of the Ministry of Education (MEC), as outlined in the curriculum guidelines of the National Education Council.

"The main benefit of this action is demanding compliance with basic quality parameters, which is not usually a concern in judicial decisions, and monitoring of the plan. This is quite innovative," said Ximenes. "We understand that we are not judicializing the issue. On the contrary. There are at least 12 individual lawsuits per year demanding enrollments in a fragmented way. What we did was concentrate everything into a plan for the city."

The final hearing to decide the case, on the 25th, ended without a decision. Melo Júnior had already called a conciliation hearing on November 4th, which ended without consensus. Before that, he convened a public hearing on August 29th and 30th to discuss the shortage of places in daycare centers.

On the 4th of this month, the Court of Justice ruled on another public civil action against the Department of Education, filed in 2010, also demanding the expansion of early childhood education. Judge Melo Júnior determined that the neighborhoods belonging to the Jabaquara Forum, in the southern part of the city, must eliminate the waiting list for places in daycare centers and preschools by 2016, with half of the demand to be met within 18 months.

Priority line

Starting in 2014, the Department of Education will prioritize the enrollment of poor children from families with a per capita income of up to R$70, a measure announced during the public hearing in August. For every ten places in early childhood education, two will be allocated to children in this situation.

According to the Ministry of Social Development's registry, there are at least 4.700 families with children of preschool or kindergarten age in this income bracket. "These children deserve special attention from all of us. Early childhood education is a right for everyone, but they require urgent attention because they are in a vulnerable situation. We believe this is a matter of justice. It's about carefully considering those who most need the State's support," said Callegari.