The TCE/SC (Court of Auditors of the State of Santa Catarina) decided this Monday (27) that resources dedicated to education cannot be used to pay for armed surveillance of schools.

TCE/SC responded to a consultation held by the city of Blumenau on the use of educational resources to pay for armed surveillance – Photo: Vinicius Bretzke/Eduardo Fronta/Reproduction/ND

An opinion formulated by the City Hall of Blumenau was sent to the Court of Auditors regarding the possibility of including the recruitment and costs of an armed surveillance service in the minimum constitutional investment of 25% used for the maintenance and development of education.

Understand the TCE/SC solution

The Court understood that the constitutional minimum investment of 25% of net current income with educational expenditure is aimed only at expenditures intended for municipal pre-primary and primary education, as set out by the LDB (Law on the Guidelines and Framework of National Education).

The decision took into account that funding armed school security guards does not correspond to the main objectives of educational institutions, since this is an activity to ensure public safety.

“Recruitment is therefore considered a public safety measure unrelated to teaching activities, and the fact that the provision of such services takes place in a school environment does not indicate the educational nature of such activities,” said TCE/SC President, Councilor Erneus De Nadal .

Nadal further clarified that the decision “does not call into question the legality or feasibility of a public manager advocating the hiring of armed surveillance to protect the school environment.” In other words, each manager will be able to decide on the need to hire armed security.

The decision could affect services in Blumenau, city hall says

In a note, the Blumenau mayor’s office said the decision could harm the service in 2024, since it would have to allocate 20 million reais from other sources of resources, which would affect the budget and planning of other departments.

For Education Minister Blumenau Alexander Mathias, investing in a safe school environment is also an educational focus. “All expenses associated with the daily operation of schools and CEI are borne by the municipal education department. Ensuring the safety of students inside the facilities is also our responsibility.”

“According to the understanding of the court that assessed and decided the case, only the costs associated with the surveillance services of the school environment included in Law 9394/1996 (Law on the Guidelines and Fundamentals of National Education) can be covered by the Secretariat of Education, which is also disputed secretary, since the period of observation remains open, that is, the municipality must decide whether it will be carried out with or without weapons,” said a statement from the Blumenau mayor’s office.

The note also states that as soon as he learned of this decision, the mayor of Blumenau, Mario Hildebrandt, who is also the president of Amwe (Association of Municipalities of the European Valley), contacted the board of directors of the organization as well as Fécamp (Santa Federation of Municipalities of Catarina) to hold a joint demonstration against the TCE decision.