The Brazilian government plays a significant role in both public and private education. It plans, establishes, and implements policies and legislates, regulates, finances, and subsidizes teaching and research. At the same time, the federal government in Brazil maintains public schools; authorizes, recognizes, accredits, and supervises courses and institutions; evaluates students, courses, and institutions nationwide; and interferes in the organization of teaching. This structure presents an interesting contrast to the U.S. federal government's role in education funding and is worth examining. Brazil's Federal Constitution of 1988 establishes the incumbencies of local, regional, and federal governments concerning education. Because the Brazilian government's priority, as established in the constitution, is the universalization of free fundamental education, a legal framework for financing education has been conceived to achieve this goal and has been implemented using public funds. In this article, the author talks about financing public education in Brazil that is made possible through a mechanism that combines binding investments at each level of government with a national educational fund (FUNDEB). This approach allows for decentralizing responsibilities and fiscal resources in the country. (Contains 1 footnote.)