The U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) 2024 Program Integrity and Institutional Quality Rulemaking agenda includes issues addressing accreditation, state authorization, and the definition of distance education. The first set of issue papers has been released and negotiators have been selected. Dr. Robert Anderson, President of SHEEO and Chair of the NC-SARA Board has been selected as an alternate for this session of negotiated rulemaking. More information about the forthcoming session and the full list of negotiators can be found here.

NC-SARA will focus its attention on Program Integrity and Institutional Quality Rulemaking proposals that address reciprocity. After our initial review of the state authorization issue paper, first impressions include:

  • ED has concerns about who is selected to serve on the NC-SARA Board.
  • ED would like to revise the SARA Student Complaint Process by mandating that reciprocity agreements require institutions to have a system to report student complaints to the state in which the student resides.

Please note that the first set of issues papers are considered a starting point for the negotiators. As the negotiating sessions get underway, we will be listening to the negotiations, monitoring any further issue papers that are released, and keeping the SARA community informed.

For more information on how to stay informed and to offer public comment during the negotiated rulemaking session, see below.

Information below from the U.S. Department of Education

Register to Observe:
Members of the public may observe the committee meetings; the committee will meet virtually for three sessions on the following dates:

Session 1: January 8–11, 2024
Session 2: February 5–8, 2024
Session 3: March 4–7, 2024

Session times will be from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. ET and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET, with a public comment period from approximately 3:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET. If you would like to observe the negotiations, please register here.

Public Comment:
At the end of each day, the committee will reserve 30 minutes for public comment. To request time to comment, please send the name of the speaker, as well as the name of the organization, if applicable, to negreghearing@ed.gov no later than 12:00 p.m. ET on the day of the meeting. ED will provide information to commenters on how and when to log in to the meeting as a speaker. ED will accommodate as many requests as possible.

Agenda and Issue Papers for Session 1 (January 8-11):

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