ED Rule-Making Agenda Includes Accreditation, Title VI

Changing the interpretation of race-based discrimination, increasing flexibility within the college accreditation system and reworking the process to yank federal financial aid eligibility for the certain civil rights violations are top priorities for Linda McMahon and the Department of Education, according to the agency’s rule-making agenda released Thursday.

The Unified Spring Agenda, which Politico reported first, provides brief descriptions of what the department wants to change for each topic and a loose timeline for the rule-making process.

Some agenda items, like amending eligibility criteria for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, are already underway; but others, like making it easier for new accreditors to gain federal recognition, have yet to be launched. Several of the new rules align directly with an executive order signed by the president during his first months in office. 

Civil Rights Investigations: The department is attempting to amend the rules that govern how the Office for Civil Rights enforces Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars discrimination based on race and national origin, and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits sex-based discrimination.

Specifically, officials wrote that they want to streamline “the process by which OCR seeks termination of Federal financial assistance to institutions that intentionally violate Federal civil rights laws and refuse to voluntarily come into compliance.”

The Trump administration has increasingly used funding freezes like these to target colleges that allow so-called antisemitic protests on campus and that protect transgender students’ ability to participate in women’s sports.   

Eliminating Disparate Impact Theory: This legal theory, codified into law in 1991, states that even if a policy or practice is seemingly neutral, it can be declared discriminatory if it disproportionately harms a specific group of people. The Trump administration is attempting to repeal that theory.

Limiting Foreign Influence: The department is looking to codify an executive order that states that colleges can lose federal funding if they do not properly disclose gifts from foreign donors or partners.

Accreditation: The department wants to change the regulations for accreditation to clarify a college’s ability to change accreditors and to make it easier for the department to recognize new accreditors. Trump called for both of those changes in an April executive order.

PSLF: The department proposed new rules for Public Service Loan Forgiveness last month and is taking public comments until Sept. 17. The proposal would limit the eligibility of certain employers for PSLF. As a result, employees at nonprofits that the Trump administration says conduct “illegal activities” could no longer be able to receive loan forgiveness. 

Title IV Eligibility: The department wants to change the rules to make it easier for certain for-profit and religious institutions to access federal student aid.

The department did not immediately respond to Inside Higher Ed’s request for comment.