The article presents the main results of a case study on the Moto Perpétuo [Perpetual Motion] Program by Fiat Automobiles S.A. which for five years (1997-2001) donated kits of auxiliary didactic materials to thousands of schools in various regions of Brazil. Despite the large scale of the Program, on which basis its promoters claimed that it was the biggest partnership ever between private initiative and federal government within the Ministry for Education program Acorda Brasil! Está na hora da Escola [Wake up Brazil! It's school time], there were still no studies demonstrating the practical results of this action, either in the improvement of education or in the implications of resizing the public and private spheres, a hotly debated subject. With information obtained from interviews, and from assessments and analysis of several documents, it was possible to see that the current expectations about the efficiency in the management and transfer of resources in sufficient amounts and quality were not met. Nevertheless, the numbers involved in the program, large when compared to other similar initiatives, contributed to build a positive image with the public opinion. Although it cannot be said that the initiative did result in a private sway that redefined the public character of the state and municipal school systems under its influence, there are evidences that the implementation of the Moto Perpétuo Program was subjected to the public-private (federal government-Fiat) relationships, representing a new chapter centered on "education" in a history that emphasizes cooperation agreements of a political or economical nature.
Moto Perpétuo Program; Fiat; Business-School; Public-Private