The purpose of this article is to examine the struggle in the field of educational policies during the proceduring of the Law of Directives and Bases of National Education (Law n.º 9394/1996) in Congress and the most significant changes made to its provisions in the decade after the law was enacted. These are the conflicts among the players of two worlds with conflicting ideologies about the conceptions regarding the society, citizenship, education, school and education: the real world, of the educators, and the official one, the educational system universe. These clashes, at the House of Representatives, led to the 'open reconciliation' of the interests of the supporters of free public education and the backers of private schools as a strategy for the inclusion of their demands under the legislation. At the Senate, a review of the casuistic regimental procedures led to the conclusion that the strong pressure exerted by the system's world power (the Executive), represented by the Ministry of Education, favored the actions of private education interests, which prevailed in a hegemonic manner over those of the advocates of public, secular, free, and quality education at all levels for all citizens. Such procedures replicate in the development of the law during the following decade, since the two educational projects remain in contention in the political arena.
educational policies; proceduring of LDB; changes in the law