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Higher Education Coordinating Commission asks committee for authority to seek injunctions against noncompliant private career schools
Summary
The Higher Education Coordinating Commission told the House committee it needs authority to seek circuit-court injunctive relief when private career schools are nonresponsive to licensure and consumer-protection efforts; no vote was taken and the committee closed the public hearing.
Kyle Thomas, director of legislative and policy affairs for the Higher Education Coordinating Commission (HACC), appeared Feb. 6 to request support for House Bill 3027. Thomas said HB 3027 would give HACC authority to go to circuit court to seek injunctive relief when private, non-degree-granting career schools fail to participate in the state’s licensure system or are otherwise nonresponsive.
Thomas told the committee HACC regulates roughly 180–200 private career schools that provide short-term vocational training — examples he gave included phlebotomy and tax-preparation schools — and that the agency’s role is primarily consumer protection. He described existing compliance tools: education and assistance to prospective licensees, warning notices and civil penalties, and the Tuition Protection Fund, which the state uses when schools close and refunds are not otherwise possible.
HB 3027, Thomas said, would provide HACC a “final step” when a school is knowingly violating law or is unresponsive to agency requests for financial or academic records needed to protect students. He said the authority is similar to what HACC already has for private degree-granting institutions and that HACC’s estimate is it would use the court authority rarely — “one or fewer times per year.”
Committee members asked clarifying questions. Representative Young asked a question that was taken out of sequence and Chair Hudson deferred, then Representative Juncker and others asked for more detail about the circumstances under which the authority would be used. Thomas and committee members discussed examples such as schools that enroll students and collect tuition without completing licensure steps. The hearing was closed with no action taken on the bill at the Feb. 6 meeting.
No formal motions, amendments, or votes were recorded in the hearing; the committee indicated it would consider testimony and questions in subsequent proceedings.
