Being based in two previous studies, this paper tries to indicate the space occupied by children aged zero to six in the federal public policies and programs, especially in the education field, during the second administration of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Benefiting from the analysis of documents and official administrative registers, initially, this paper brings evidence to how timid and weakly articulated are the federal actions directed towards this age group. In the second section, more emphasis is given to the financing of early childhood education and to the challenges for the implementation of the targets established by the National Education Plan (PNE) for this phase of basic education. Estimations on demand for crèches and pre-schools based on the targets of the PNE are presented here, as well as the probable scenarios of the expenditures that are necessary for the accomplishment of those targets. Those scenarios were drawn according to the calculus of resources foreseen for the education sector, in the different governmental spheres, according to the minimum levels established by the Constitution. The analyses stress the need of implementing the principle of the regime of collaboration among the federal government, States and municipalities, foreseen in the Constitution of 1988 and in the Law of Guidelines and Basis (LDB) of 1996, in order to allow education to reach.
education for 0-6 year old children; public policy for children
