This dissertation analyzes the Programa Dinheiro Direto na Escola (PDDE) as
a decentralized educational financing policy and examines its implications for school
management in the state public education network of Pernambuco, Brazil. The study
is structured around three analytical axes: (i) the historical reconstruction of
educational financing in Brazil and the development of the PDDE; (ii) the discussion
of school management conceptions and the tensions between democratic
management and managerialism; and (iii) the analysis of the program’s
implementation in Pernambuco, including the functioning of School Executing Units
(UExs), the complementary yet uncertain role of the state resource Investe Escola,
and school managers’ perceptions. Methodologically, the research draws on program
theory and employs document analysis, literature review, and field research with
school managers, interpreted through Bardin’s Content Analysis. Findings indicate
that, although the PDDE provides a degree of autonomy and is essential for the daily
functioning of schools—particularly in regions where, as Viana (2020) notes, nearly
half of the units depend exclusively on these funds—its implementation is marked by
limited autonomy, high administrative burdens, fragile democratic participation, and
insufficient institutional conditions. The UExs demonstrate low deliberative
effectiveness, echoing critiques previously raised by Lück (2013). The study
concludes that the PDDE plays a relevant and indispensable role in the state
network; however, it operates under contradictions that decentralize responsibilities
without ensuring adequate technical, financial, and political support. Nonetheless,
schools emerge as spaces of mediation and dispute, as argued by Paro, Souza, and
Libâneo, where managers and communities reinvent practices and affirm the public
school as a place of participation and resistance. This research contributes to
debates on educational financing and school management, offering insights for
improving the PDDE in Pernambuco and other federative contexts.