Societal Management in the Public Budget of the State of Minas Gerais: A Case Study of the State Department of Education

With changes in economic models and administrative reforms implemented in the State over the last few decades, management instruments have also been adapted. This work directs the focus to two of the main approaches - managerialism, with a focus on results and the reduction of public expenditures (PAES DE PAULA, 2010), and the societal approach, which encourages decentralization and the participation of citizens in the elaboration and execution of public policies (PAES DE PAULA, 2005). The article aims to present an analysis of Minas Gerais State Department of Education budget execution in 2014-2018 to identify aspects that refer to the societal management model proposed by Paes de Paula (2005). The research methodology was based on content analysis and quantitative comparison between the predicted and executed values in the Institutional Monitoring Reports (RIM) for the period. It was found that aspects of societal management, as proposed by Paes de Paula (2005), can be observed in the allocations that, based on their statements, propose the allocation of resources to promote the participation of society in public policies, to have interaction and protagonism in the implementation of these measures, as well as indicating the fulfillment of the specificities of the beneficiaries and the socio-political character. However, it is evident that the opening for social participation still needs to go ahead and that the budget execution of the actions identified with societal is compromised by the fiscal crisis scenario, regardless of the orientation of the current government.