Possibilities for Reducing Educational Inequalities in Federal and Unitarian Countries: Brazil and Chile

Abstract

This article is an approach of a research that searches possibilities that Federal and Unitarians States have to reduce educational inequalities among their regions considering the politics of educational funds. From the observation that the strong inequalities that mark Latin America negatively, with serious consequences in the educational outcomes of most national populations, this search intends to answer the following questions: 1. Can the mechanisms of educational funds reduce the differences expenses per student among different regions of the searched countries? 2. Is there a decrease of the registration’s financing or a reduction of positive discrimination, from the action of national governments that induces to educational improvements in the poorest regions? 3. No matter being Federal or Unitarian, are government’s forms decisive in these processes? This work about Brazil and Unitarian States, like Chile, shows that the answer to these questions depends on the organization of the educational systems of each country and also depends upon the national and the sub national governments, the national tax collection and the tributary division. These factors, that in Unitarians states such as Chile, inclines to concentrate on the National Government, permit an effective action to have more recourses to help the poorest regions and, in this way, creating conditions to reduce inequalities in educational results.