Do audits of school meals impact the student performance rate? Analysis of the effect of a supervision program on students in municipal schools

Abstract We sought to identify the effect of audits of School Meal Programs on the performance rates of students in municipal schools. For this, the pass, failure, and dropout rates of students in the 5th year of elementary school, between 2011 and 2018, from the municipalities selectable in the Third Cycle of Inspection of the Controladoria Geral da União (CGU), which took place in 2016, were used. The randomization methods, used by the CGU in the selection of the inspected municipalities, and the diff-in-diff to determine the robustness of the results, were employed. The results did not identify any effect on the failure and dropout rates; however, the approval rate was positive for the estimation of the overall averages and two years after the inspections. Thus, it is possible to assume that structural changes took place in the management of school meals, enabling the PNAE resource to be used to contribute to the development and learning of students in public schools through meal plans.