This paper approaches the role of the Conselho Nacional dos Secretários de Educação (CONSED), which gathers the secretaries of the Brazilian Education State Departments, highlighting its influence on the formulation and execution of national policies for elementary education in the context of the educational reform occurring in Brazil. It focuses the relationships built up between Federal and States authorities in the educational area, relationships that privileged the Federal Executive, represented by the Department of Education (MEC) and the Educational State Department representatives The Conselho Nacional dos Secretários de Educação (CONSED), during the 1995-1998 period. Based upon a documental research, the text explores the idea that Fernando Henrique Cardoso's first Government straightened the links between CONSED and the Department of Education, in order to attenuate the conflicts involving both authorities and increase the influence of the Federal Executive on the conduction of the Educational Policies.
Educational Policies; Conselho Nacional dos Secretários de Educação (CONSED); Policies Assessment; Educational Administration