Education funding has become central to the contemporary educational debate, especially with the introduction of the Fund policy in Brazil in the mid-1990s. This article proposes to analyze key aspects related to the funding of basic education in the formulation/approval of the new National Education Plan (PNE). To this end, it uses bibliographic and documentary research on the subject. It starts by recovering the historical trajectory of attempts to form a PNE in Brazil, and goes on to address question of education funding in the PNE I. It then presents the key decisions of the National Conference on Education (CONAE/2010) in relation to funding, mutually agreed and expressed in its Final Document. Finally, it examines the funding of basic education in the context of the current PNE II, and its comprehensive processing through to the final approval, revealing the progress made and the setbacks suffered, from the perspective of a public, secular, free, quality education for all.