The College Accreditation System Persists — for Now — After Failed Florida Legal Challenge
Credit: Joe Raedle / Getty Images- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sued the Biden administration in June 2023 over college accreditation.
- If successful, his case would have upended a system that has been in existence for over 100 years.
- A Florida judge dismissed the case recently.
- The case may live on through an amended complaint or through an appeal.
Florida’s quest to reshape college accreditation in the U.S. failed, for now, following a federal court’s dismissal of a key lawsuit.
Judge Jacqueline Becerra granted a motion to dismiss a case Oct. 2 that would have upended the country’s college accreditation system. Florida first filed the lawsuit against the Department of Education (ED) in June 2023.
Among other things, Florida alleged that college accreditation agencies as gatekeepers of federal financial aid violates the Higher Education Act (HEA) because these accreditors are private entities.
The state also took umbrage with two letters ED published outlining standards colleges and universities must meet to change accreditors. The letters were seen as a response to a recent Florida law that requires public institutions to switch agencies every 10 years.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Judge Becerra, appointed by President Joe Biden, dismissed all four of Florida’s claims.
“This court is only empowered to look at the facts as they are plead, not rhetorical conclusions, and then apply the law as it exists, not as the state would like it to be,” she wrote in her declaration. “By those lights, what the state presented, at least in this complaint, cannot stand.”
Becerra said Florida may amend its complaint to “address the deficiencies” in its claims. The state may also choose to appeal the order.
This order is a key moment in Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ campaign against college accreditors.
DeSantis signed a bill into law that forces the state’s public colleges and universities to switch accreditors every 10 years. He has said accreditation agencies hold colleges hostage and previously said his lawsuit aims to “strip private, unaccountable accreditors of their authority to stand in the way of Florida’s higher education reforms.”
Accreditation agencies oversee institutions and programs to ensure they provide an education that meets certain standards. Students may only receive federal financial aid if they attend an accredited program.
Both Democrats and Republicans are seemingly in agreement that college accreditation needs reform. However, both sides have vastly different views on how the system should change.
DeSantis has been one of the leaders from the Republican Party pushing for change.
This court dismissal could spell trouble ahead for the governor’s plans, however. Becerra’s order was a thorough deconstruction of the state’s cases, pointing out that college accreditation predates even the HEA.
“Accrediting agencies filled a role the federal government could not,” Becerra wrote. “The passage of the HEA cemented their role, using these preexisting agencies as part of the process that the federal government put in place to ensure that federal funds were being used at institutions that met a minimum educational quality.”