Structural Litigation as an Instrument for Implementing Public Policies for Access to Early Childhood Education in the Municipality of Palmas, Tocantins

Abstract

The insufficient supply of places in early childhood education in Brazil constitutes a structural problem that compromises the realization of constitutional rights. This study analyzes the structural process of public policies in the municipality of Palmas, Tocantins, focusing on Public Civil Action No. 0004409-65.2014.827.2729, filed in 2014 by the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Public Defender's Office. The objective is to evaluate how structural litigation contributes to expanding access to early childhood education, identifying planning instruments, impacts of judicial decisions, and barriers to realizing this right. The methodology is qualitative, bibliographic and documentary in nature, based on content analysis of procedural documents, judicial decisions, and School Census data. The results demonstrate that, although the PCA imposed programmatic measures such as schedules and continuous monitoring, there was a dissociation between judicial commands and material effectiveness. Even after the final judgment in 2019, the waiting list reached 2,610 children in 2025. The main barriers identified include administrative resistance, deficient planning, data opacity, and recurrent invocation of the "reserve of the possible". It is concluded that the structural process is a necessary but not sufficient instrument: its effectiveness depends on public management capacity, interinstitutional cooperation, and strengthening of judicial monitoring to ensure the realization of fundamental rights.