The article examines the educational provisions in the constitutions of the 92 municipalities of the State of Rio de Janeiro and finds that they show little originality, for they are mainly a copy of the Brazilian Federal Constitution, the State Constitution of Rio de Janeiro and of models sold by consultancies especialized in the sale of legal packages or supplied by political parties. It puts forward the argument that many municipal constitutions are copies of such models because they repeat the same formulations, which would not probably occur if the councillors had drafted the municipal constitutiosn autonomously. However, a number of municipal constitutions contain original contributions, both positive (increasing the minimum percentage of taxes to education) and negative (reduction of this percentage by means of amendments to the municipal constitutions. This indicates the fragility of the concrete exercise of municipal autonomy in the drafting of municipal constitutions from a democratic perspective and the illusion that many have that the exercise of citizenship is easier on a local level
Rio de Janeiro; educational legislation; municipalities; educational policies
