Many Republicans see the Obama administration as guilty of regulatory overreach. And some House Republicans are trying to do something about it — hoping to pass a bill as early as next week to repeal two Education Department rules from 2010 that they say violate states’ rights to control education policy,
The Hill reports.
One of the regulations establishes federal rules for how states decide whether to allow colleges and universities to operate within their boundaries. North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx, the bill’s sponsor, says the rule could hurt online schools by forcing them to receive authorization from every state that has an enrolled student.
The second rule establishes a federal definition of "credit hour." This definition is based on how many hours a student is in class but ignores other ways students can learn, Foxx says. Both rules impinge on states’ authority to set their own guidelines and may quash innovations in education, she says.
"At the end of the day, the unnecessary state authorization and credit hour regulations will reduce local control and create uncertainty in post-secondary education," she said in last year's markup of the bill. "Instead of over-regulating the nation’s higher education system, we should focus our efforts on simplifying federal involvement and streamlining regulatory burdens."
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