Since the inauguration of right-wing president Jair Messias Bolsonaro in January 2019, public education in Latin America’s largest country has been under pressure. The new government has demanded the banishment of “ideologies of the left” from classrooms and begun a defunding of higher education. Among the actual and proposed cuts was an announcement in May of this year to slash funding for Brazil’s federal higher education institutions by 30 percent—a measure that could affect close to 300 universities and institutes. Allocations for scholarships for graduate students and researchers were also cut, potentially jeopardizing funding for more than 80,000 students. The government has stated that some of the funds would be redistributed to the school system, but a recent spending cut of about USD$87 million targeted expenses in basic education such as schoolbooks as well.