Municipal State Capacity and school performance in Brazil: the role of information management in basic education

Abstract

Introduction: In Brazil, differences in school performance can be largely attributed to socioeconomic conditions, as well as to school- and teacher-level characteristics. Yet the relationship between subnational state capacity - particularly within municipal and state education departments - and educational outcomes remains underexplored in the literature. This article examines the extent to which municipal state capacity and education-specific management capacities are associated with school performance. Materials and methods: The study employs a quantitative, cross-sectional design, using linear regression models with controls for state-level differences. The unit of analysis comprises municipal and state public schools with available data from the 2023 SAEB and IDEB assessments. Independent variables include the Municipal Management Index (i-GeM) and its five constituent dimensions, as well as a set of education-specific indicators of municipal education management (planning capacity, teacher career structures, financial autonomy, procedures for appointing school principals, and mechanisms for assessing educational demand). All models control for students’ socioeconomic status, educational inequality, and the size of the municipal education system. Results: The findings show that municipal informational capacity is the only dimension of the i-GeM that is consistently associated with higher levels of school performance. Formal institutional instruments, such as municipal education plans or teacher career plans, do not exhibit statistically significant effects. In contrast, greater financial autonomy for municipal education secretariats, procedures for appointing school principals, and mechanisms for identifying educational demand are positively associated with educational outcomes. Discussion: The findings indicate that what matters is not state capacity in the abstract, but rather specific capacities oriented toward data use, planning, and information management. The study highlights the central role of informational capacity in subnational education governance and points to the limitations of existing indicators of state capacity, suggesting a research agenda focused on more precise measurement of state capacities and their causal mechanisms in educational outcomes.