Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Higher Education Accreditation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board rule would let proprietary and private postsecondary institutions use any U.S. Department‑approved accreditor rather than only regional accreditors
Summary
State Board staff proposed removing the requirement that proprietary and private postsecondary institutions be regionally accredited, enabling institutions accredited by any U.S. Department of Education‑recognized agency to register in Idaho; staff said Idaho lacks capacity to vet accreditors independently.
Matthew Scribe, policy staff at the State Board of Education, described a small but consequential proposed change to rules that register postsecondary and proprietary schools in Idaho: striking the term "regional" from the accreditation requirement so institutions accredited by any U.S. Department of Education‑recognized agency could meet registration criteria.
Scribe explained the intent is to allow institutions accredited by national or other ED‑recognized agencies to operate in Idaho without forcing duplicative state accreditor recognition. "The U.S. Department of Education has teams for this kind of thing. And we simply just don't in Idaho," Scribe said, describing the board staff’s view that the state lacks the technical capacity to vet accrediting bodies at the same level as the federal agency.
Why it matters: the change widens the set of recognized accreditors for private and proprietary institutions that register with the state. It does not change accreditation standards, but it changes which accreditors satisfy Idaho registration rules.
No formal action was taken; the change was introduced for committee review as part of the rules docket.
