Lawmakers Urge Dept. of Ed to Drop Efforts to Revive Program Integrity Rules
April 23, 2013
A group of bipartisan members of Congress sent a letter to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan urging the agency to abandon its efforts to revive two program integrity regulations aimed at increasing oversight of colleges to ensure their quality.
Last week, the department announced new hearings on rulemaking intended to engage the higher education community in conversations state authorization for distance education programs and how to define “gainful employment,” among other things. The two rules were previously struck down by judges following legal challenges mounted by the for-profit lobby and also faced significant congressional opposition.
In the letter, Rep. John Kline (R-MN),chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce; Rep. Virginia E. Foxx (R-NC), chair of the higher education subcommittee; and Reps. Robert E. Andrews (D-NJ), Alcee L. Hastings (D-FL), and Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), argued that instead of attempting to find new formulations of the rules that would pass muster in the courts, the department should seek to attain its goals by working with Congress through the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act “ a process expected to begin next year.
Related Links:
Letter to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan
https://edworkforce.house.gov/uploadedfiles/reg_letter_to_sad.pdf
Michelle Cormier Mott
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