Eficiência dos gastos públicos com educação básica na Paraíba: uma análise nas esferas municipais

Abstract

The present study aimed to identify the level of efficiency in the application of public resources destined to basic education in the municipal public network of Paraíba in 2019, considering that the area of education is one of the ones that receives the most public resources, as well as its relevance for guarantee the development of society. The research is characterized as bibliographic, documentary and descriptive with a quantitative approach, since the non-parametric method of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was used, with the Variable Returns to Scale (VRS) model, and orientation to output, as it is based on maximizing the results generated, given the inputs used. The data used as an input was the average expenditure per student, found from the ratio between the amount of expenses committed to the education function and the total enrollment in the municipal school system. The data used as outputs were the Basic Education Development Index (IDEB) for the initial and final years of elementary education in each municipality. The results showed that the average degree of efficiency in the application of resources in basic education for the municipalities of Paraíba was 0.7818. Only six municipalities (3.2%) were considered as benchmarks and the majority is located in the Paraíba's Sertão mesoregion. The largest number of municipalities (56.4%) had a moderate level of inefficiency. Then, 37.2% of the municipalities showed weak inefficiency. Six municipalities (3.2%) showed strong inefficiency, mostly located in the mesoregion of Mata Paraibana.