Latest news with #SouthernAssociationofCollegesandSchoolsCommissiononColleges
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump's executive order on college accreditation process promotes competition, supporters say
April 23 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order that targets the college accreditation process, including encouraging competition in the process. The accreditation process is linked to colleges and universities accessing federal money for student loans and Pell grants. The schools depend on grants besides tuition and for public schools' state funding. "University accreditation is currently a process controlled by a number of third-party organizations that's by statute, by law, many of those third-party accreditors have relied on sort of woke ideology to accredit universities, instead of accrediting based on merit and performance," Will Scharf, White House staff secretary, said. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon was directed to "hold higher education accreditors accountable, including through denial, monitoring, suspension, or termination for poor performance or violations to the federal Civil Rights Act." Also, McMahon and Attorney General Pam Bondi were ordered to investigate and terminate unlawful discrimination by American higher education institutions, including law schools and medical schools. The education secretary, whose agency Trump wants to dismantle, was present in the Oval Office for signings. His also signed an executive order to ensure the training of artificial intelligence in schools for the future workforce in the United States. "There's somebody today, very smart person, said that AI is the way to the future. I don't know if that's right or not, but certainly, very smart people are investing in it." Another order will be "enforcing the laws on the books with respect to foreign gifts to American universities." In the order, the schools must make certain disclosures. The accreditation order will allow colleges to switch accreditors easily and encourage more competition instead of the current lengthy process. In 2019, Trump in his first term removed geographic restrictions on which accrediting schools could be used. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, sued the Biden administration over the college accreditation system in 2023. One year later, Judge Jacqueline Becerra, a Biden appointee, dismissed the suit. "The State's objection to the requirement that they comply with standards set by private agencies to receive federal dollars from its students simply fails to state a claim," Becerra wrote. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges was Florida's accreditor. On Monday, Harvard sued the Trump administration after cutting off $2 billion in grants and contracts for refusing to agree to overnight and scrapping diversity, equity and inclusion.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Texas proposals would open more options for college accreditation. Here's why some oppose.
In what proponents say is a 'simple cleanup' and opponents call an 'unnecessary risk,' the Texas House and Senate education committees both are considering bills to expand college accreditation options for all the state's universities. 'The moment we have all been waiting for,' House Higher Education Committee Chair Rep. Terry Wilson, R-Georgetown, said at the Tuesday hearing as the audience laughed. Accreditation is a yearslong process of peer review that ensures universities and their degrees and courses are held to certain standards of excellence and quality, and it has been part of the U.S. higher education system since the 1880s. Institutions need accreditation to qualify for federal financial aid and research grants, and they must get recertified every eight to 10 years. Because of changes in 2019 under the first Trump administration, led by U.S. Education Secretary Betsy Devos, the federal government now gives institutions a choice over accreditors, which were typically only available regionally, but Texas law hasn't kept up. More recently, Republican lawmakers have accused the accreditation process of perpetuating progressive values and have called for drastic reform. During the 2024 presidential campaign, Republican President Donald Trump said accrediting agencies were his 'secret weapon' in reforming universities away from 'indoctrinating America's youth,' and promised to fire left-leaning accreditors. In Texas, state Rep. Joanne Shofner, R-Nacogdoches, filed House Bill 1705, and Sen. Kevin Sparks, R-Midland, filed a companion bill, Senate Bill 530, as a quick fix to eliminate the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges as the sole accreditor and allow universities to choose any accreditors from an approved list drawn up by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. "There is no fiscal impact, there's no mandate' with this bill, Shofner said. 'The purpose of this bill is simply to give choice." Research by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, an influential conservative think tank, states that accreditors rarely discipline universities for poor student outcomes or 'worrisome' academic programs. Shofner, a freshman lawmaker, said the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges is associated with the highest debt-to-income ratio for bachelor's degrees, citing the policy foundation's 2022 report, which concluded that SACSCOC is the "worst" accreditor. 'HB 1705 is a simple fix to sync Texas law with the THECB's March 2024 decision. It's common sense, it's bipartisan, and it keeps our higher education system running smoothly,' said Tom Lindsay, a senior fellow at the policy foundation. Belle Wheelan, president of SACSCOC, said in a 2022 letter that the policy foundation's report "reflects a flawed conclusion based on a flawed study," stating that its finding was made based on a minority of SACSCOC students, as the majority within the accreditor's region don't take out federal student loans, and it didn't consider other measures of success. "SACSCOC continues to work to improve higher education for the benefit of society and welcomes feedback from all interested parties. However, I believe the TPPF report includes inaccurate information and, therefore, in no way captures the progress that SACSCOC member institutions continue to make in student achievement; nor does it provide useful critiques that can be used to further drive student achievement," Wheelan said in her letter. "The facts demonstrate that SACSCOC institutions' academic and student achievement performance continues to remain in line with, or slightly exceed, those of other former regional accreditors," she said. The Texas higher education board currently recognizes 16 accreditors, including SACSCOC, all of which are currently recognized by the U.S. Education Department, said Sarah Keyton, deputy commissioner for the board, in response to questioning. The state legislative proposals would allow an institution to pick any accrediting agency on the board's list to satisfy accreditation requirements. Opponents, however, say the bill's language is too vague. 'It's not guaranteed that this will always have federally recognized agencies on' the approved list, Amanda Garcia, speaking on behalf of the American Federation of Teachers, said at the House education panel's hearing Tuesday. 'How the (state) Education Code is currently written ensures that we have that safeguard." David Albert, Austin Community College's chapter president for the American Federation of Teachers union, said HB 1705 is an "unnecessary risk" to a system that's already working efficiently, and it could eventually lower the standards higher education institutes are held to. Brian Evans, president of the Texas Conference of the American Association of University Professors, said that SACSCOC has specific rules that require universities to involve faculty members in decision-making. Republican state senators have also filed multiple bills this session aimed at restricting faculty senates and regulating shared governance at public universities In response to the American-Statesman's emailed questions, Wheelan said SACSCOC, which has accredited Texas universities since 1895, has standards that are approved and developed in consultation with the institutions. "Folks from institutions from ALL of our states serve on the Board that has final approval of them," Wheelan said in an email. "Peer evaluators from member institutions identify the standards and then serve on evaluation teams that determine if and how well institutions are meeting the standards." Wheelan, however, said SACSCOC is not opposed to the bill as it is already the practice at the federal government level. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas lawmakers weigh bills to open college accreditation options
