The objective of this work is to evaluate the use of a global accessibility index as a reference value for improving the spatial distribution of the students served by a public network of educational facilities at the municipal level. Given the spatial location of day-care centers and schools and their registered users during the year 2000 in the city of São Carlos, SP, an evaluation of their distribution in the actual and projected scenarios was carried out. The goal was to minimize displacement costs. The results have shown the viability of the proposed index for establishing service (coverage) areas, taking into account a certain hypothetical densification for the entire city. With the conditions set in the proposed scenarios, which were assumed to have quite acceptable urban density values and a minimum relocation level of the students, more than 95% of the children were within the coverage areas.
location-allocation models; accessibility; urban planning
