Law establishing school councils and forums comes into force

An old demand from the educational sector in the country, was sanctioned, this Thursday (3), in the Official Gazette (DOU) by the president of the Republic to Law 14.644, of 2023, which defines rules for the operation of school councils and respective forums in the units of teaching.

With the validity of the new norm, the Law of Guidelines and Bases of National Education (Law 9.394, of 1996) is amended, which implies the inclusion, among the responsibilities of state entities, municipalities and the Federal District (DF) and in educational institutions, the creation of school councils and, in the case of the states, the institution of forums for school councils, to whom it will be up to the definition of norms of democratic management, by means of law, in order to guarantee the participation of communities, both school and local, in the respective councils and forums.

While the school council is made up of the school principal and representatives of the school and local communities – previously elected by their peers – the school council forum consists of a deliberative collegiate, formed by two representatives of the body responsible for the education system, in addition to two representatives from each school board of the location.

The legal proposition originated from the bill PL 2.201/2022), authored by congresswoman Luiza Erundina (PSOL-SP) – approved by the Senate on July 11th – later added to the report by Senator Confúcio Moura (MDB-RO).

When presenting his report, Moura highlighted that the project complies with the principle of democratic management, provided for in the Constitution and in the laws on education, which “must be disciplined in the specific legislation of states, Federal District and municipalities, to effectively integrate itself into the daily life of schools, so that the entire community school is heard and that, from there, pedagogical proposals can be formulated that really consider the needs and possible contributions of all interested”. Currently, several states and municipalities maintain similar instances in operation, which operate based on administrative regulations.

In defense of the initiative authored by her, Luiza Erundina argued that “it is necessary that these education systems have specific legislation that check the effectiveness of the constitutional precept [of the democratic management of public education] so that popular participation does not depend on simple measures administrative”.

Until the new rule takes effect, within the scope of state and municipal laws, school boards and forums of the school councils already instituted will continue to observe the norms issued by the respective systems of teaching.