KEY TAKEAWAYS:   Senate Bill 304 would allow Louisiana public universities to seek accreditation from an alternative to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.   The bill was introduced at the recommendation of Gov. Jeff Landry‘s Task Force on Public Higher Education Reform.   The legislation would direct schools toward the Commission for Public Higher Education, a conservative accreditor founded last summer that universities in six other states have already joined.   Conservative lawmakers have pushed back against traditional accreditors over DEI standards and requirements limiting political influence in higher education.   Louisiana colleges have adhered to the standards of a regional accreditation group going back more than a century, but a conservative movement is progressing to allow the schools to seek another option. Legislators advanced a bill Wednesday to provide state universities with an alternative to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. The organization has evaluated curricula, faculty, governance and other factors for colleges in 11 southern states since its founding 1895. LSU was the first Louisiana school to receive SACSCOC accreditation, getting its initial approval in 1913. Senate Bill 304 by Sen. Rick Edmonds, R-Baton Rouge, would require the Board of Regents, which oversees higher education in Louisiana, to develop a policy that would allow schools to switch from the Southern Association to another accreditor. The Senate Committee on Education approved the bill unanimously. The bill was introduced at the recommendation of Republican Gov. Jeff Landry’s Task Force on Public Higher Education Reform, on which Edmonds served. The task force suggested Louisiana’s schools seek membership in the Commission for Public Higher Education, a conservative accreditor founded last summer that’s seeking expedited recognition from the U.S. Department of Education. University systems in six other states — Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Tennessee — are already part of the new group. Edmonds’ bill stops short of requiring membership in the Commission for Public Higher Education. Instead, it allows schools to seek accreditation from an organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Education that promotes standards such as workforce outcomes, educational quality and affordability. His legislation also requires that an accreditor “ensures appropriate accountability through a rigorous annual review of the faculty,” which might ultimately limit who would be eligible to set standards for Louisiana schools. No accreditation groups currently require annual faculty reviews as part of their principles. Edmonds, who is running for the 5th Congressional District seat U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow is vacating, said the goal of annual reviews is not to pick on faculty but to keep abreast of whatever issues might be present. His bill also prohibits schools from using accreditors whose standards require a violation of state law. Edmonds didn’t name a particular law that concerned him, saying only that public universities belong to the people and must follow the law. Conservative politicians have taken issue with traditional accreditors at times because of their standards related to diversity, equity and inclusion. They also require safeguards intended to limit the influence of external forces, including politicians, in public higher education. “When there’s a philosophical shift on something, even though sometimes academia can take you a certain way, we look up and say, ‘That’s not what the people want,”’ Edmonds said. ...read more read less