MERIT-BASED BONUSES AND RESULTS-BASED MANAGEMENT: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE DEMOCRATIC MANAGEMENT OF MUNICIPAL PUBLIC EDUCATION IN IMPERATRIZ, MARANHÃO

Abstract

This article analyzes the merit-based bonus policy established by Municipal Law No. 1.963/2023 in Imperatriz, Maranhão, seeking to understand how its evaluation, classification, and award criteria are articulated with results-based management and create tensions with the principles of democratic management of public education. This is a qualitative, documentary, and bibliographic study based on the analysis of the legislation and on contributions from Paro (2017), Ball (2004), Hypolito (2010) and Mészáros (2008). The documentary analysis, with a critical-interpretive orientation, focused on the provisions concerning bonuses for professionals, school performance criteria, and awards linked to assessments. The results indicate that the legislation associates the recognition of school work with external indicators, linking institutional results to financial rewards. The classification of schools into three positions, with differentiated amounts, establishes a hierarchy among schools in the municipal network and fosters competitive comparison. It is concluded that this rationality brings the municipal policy closer to contemporary mechanisms of performance-based regulation and produces tensions with democratic management, especially regarding participation, autonomy, and the understanding of educational quality. We argue for a conception of quality committed to human development, equity, collective participation, and the guarantee of the right to education.