The centralization of payroll, for example, has generated few incentives for states to take responsibility for educational problems and even encourages little transparency in the distribution of payments to teachers and many irregularities.
in full celebration of the Day of the Teacher, the Senate of the Republic made the declaration of validity of the new educative reform impelled by the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador , but the constitutional modifications are far from attending all the problems of the basic education from the country.
During an event held in Zacapu, Michoacán, on April 5, President López Obrador made a statement that went almost unnoticed by attendees and some media: “we are in the best position to federalize the entire education system”
In the framework of the banner for the “Benito Juárez” university system, AMLO assured Silvano Aureoles, governor from Michoacán, that the federation would take charge of everything related to the education of the entity and of the other states with the goal to avoid problems with teachers.
But applying this measure would mean going back to an educational model that ended in the 1990s, which was ineffective and encouraged corruption especially in terms of educational budgets, warns Marco Fernández Treviño, a researcher at the School of Government of Public Transformation of the Tec de Monterrey
As of 1992, it was transferred to the federal administration, part of the payment of the payroll of the country’s teachers to the Ministry of Public Education (SEP) and the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP). However, this has generated little incentive for states to become jointly responsible for educational problems and even encourages little transparency in the distribution of payments to teachers and many irregularities.
“There is a temptation to centralize all education, as President López Obrador has said, and my advice is that this would be a very bad decision, because what is needed is to strengthen the mechanisms of accountability and stop the budget drain. in the states, making them truly co-responsible for their educational results “, warns Fernández.
An example of the poor results of making the federation responsible for education in each state is the payment of payroll to teachers.
Currently, seven out of every 10 basic and normal education workers in the country receive their salaries through the Contribution Fund for Educational Payroll and Operational Expenditure (FONE), which has been in operation since 2015, in which irregularities in spending have been documented. 5,100 million pesos.
Among the anomalies in the dispersion of payments through this fund was documented the payment to union commissioners up to 1,600 million pesos, in addition to the payment of administrative staff salaries as secretaries and drivers, according to the study “Impunity in the Teacher Payroll Use and Abuse of the Contribution Fund is for the Educational Payroll and Operating Expense “.
With this type of scheme, there are also educational budgetary differences between the states, there are no effective mechanisms to sanction those responsible for the irregular use of public resources, in addition to the allocation of resources is inertial and is not guided by criteria that incentivize the Federal entities.
“It is essential to establish elements that contextualize the education panorama of the states, change the criteria for the distribution of resources, see that the budgetary efforts made by the entities themselves, the coverage challenges, and so on are met. It has never been possible to see how to incorporate into the distribution of resources any element that takes into consideration the quality of the education system of each state, since the FAEB was tried and is an issue that has not been able to advance, “said the specialist .
The background of Fone
The Contribution Fund for Basic and Normal Education (FAEB) is the antecedent of the FONE, which operated from 2008 to 2014, time in which the irregular use of 141,645 million pesos has been documented.
In this sense, the specialist reflects on the importance of establishing an administrative reform in the area of education since the Congress of the Union.
“We are concerned about the omissions and indolence of the States, we are concerned that the local anti-corruption systems have not operated and that the National Anticorruption System, as we saw in the federal part that would have to enter, as well as how effective they have not been. What is needed is to establish pressure for this administrative reform, “he said.
Source: forbes
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