*MARCELO KNOBEL AND WAGNER ROMÃO
The approval of Constitutional Amendment Proposal (PEC) no. 5, of 2016, by the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo caused a stir. The PEC sets the monthly allowance for judges at the Court of Justice as a ceiling on the salaries of civil servants in São Paulo.
The main arguments against the PEC are related to legitimate concerns about the budgetary impact of the change in times of serious economic crisis. We understand, however, that resolving the crisis cannot come at the expense of public service. Much less of the teachers and employees of public universities in São Paulo, who, through the production and dissemination of highly qualified knowledge, play an extremely relevant social role.
Firstly, it is necessary to distinguish the increase in the salary cap from the fair criticism of the so-called “super salaries”. These are distortions that must be combated and the new constitutional amendment reinforces the legal framework to extinguish them. The approval of the PEC repairs a situation that reduced the remuneration of civil servants in São Paulo – the richest State and with the highest cost of living in the country – compared to all the States of the Federation. Only Espírito Santo had a lower ceiling than São Paulo. In recent years, in São Paulo, the ceiling – given by the governor's subsidy – had been arbitrarily maintained at levels much lower than the federal ceiling, causing disparity in relation to the remuneration of workers at other public universities in the country, including those that are located in the State of São Paulo itself. Furthermore, the ceiling created an anomaly, as it regulated a State career based on the salaries of someone who holds a political mandate.
It is worth noting that the PEC does not introduce increases, but suspends the salary cut that affected public servants, especially those in the final stage of their career. There will be no budgetary impact in the first year, but rather a staggering so that those who are eligible can reach the limit of the judges' monthly allowance over the next four years.
A career concerns a lifetime dedicated to public service, with predictability regarding entry rules and salary progression. Teachers at public universities are required to have a long training trajectory from graduation, through master's, doctorate and post-doctorate. There are years of training needed to enter the career. In the three public universities in São Paulo, this consists of six levels in higher education. The transition from the second to the third level takes place through a full professorship competition and from the fifth to the sixth, through a public competition for full professor. Such competitions require high quality of academic work and scientific relevance of the research undertaken by employees.
In this way, career advancement takes place over 20, often 30 years of work or more. The governor's definition of the subsidy as a salary ceiling meant that the careers of older teachers were compressed, in salary terms (but not in academic terms), to just four levels.
In the case of USP, Unesp and Unicamp, the old ceiling caused serious disincentive to teachers with extensive university careers and dedication to public service. These professors, who had decades of social contribution, had their salaries cut precisely at the height of their scientific production and their ability to train new researchers. This situation led to early retirement and the frequent flight of these professionals to federal universities, private universities and universities abroad, or simply to abandon their university career in favor of better paid occupations in the private sector. Furthermore, it considerably reduced the attractiveness of São Paulo universities for young talents, so important for the future maintenance of hard-won excellence.
São Paulo's public higher education system is one of the State's main strengths and an asset that society needs to defend.
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Defining the governor's subsidy as the maximum salary in SP led to the flight of teachers
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There must be political will to maintain quality and the new challenges faced by USP, Unesp and Unicamp. Even in a funding crisis, the three state universities in São Paulo account for around a third of the scientific articles produced in the country. Between 1995 and 2018, the number of students enrolled at USP, Unesp and Unicamp practically doubled. Today they have, together, around 190 thousand students enrolled in their undergraduate and postgraduate courses. This expansion took place amidst a great effort to finance universities themselves, with the creation of new campuses and without the promised budget increase.
The social security situation is much worse than in 1994, when the transfer of 9,57% of ICMS to universities was established. Furthermore, at least in the case of Unicamp, it is essential to expand the transfer from the Department of Health to finance the health sector, responsible for highly complex care for more than 6 million users.
The strategic nature of universities must be considered by São Paulo society and its representatives in the Legislative Assembly, so that the expansion of their budgetary sources allows the effective valorization of their employees and newly hired teachers, and also the maintenance of a safe policy of expansion and democratization of higher education in the State.
The defense of public universities requires recognized and valued professionals. Without them, society as a whole loses, as the public university is essential for creating alternatives for development and confronting the serious social problems that afflict us.
*REPECTIVELY, DECTOR OF UNICAMP AND PRESIDENT OF THE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION OF UNICAMP (ADUNICAMP)
(O Estado de S. Paulo, June 26, page 2, Espaço Aberto)
