The high school accreditation bill that would weaken the power of institutions like AdvancED passed the state House on Monday.

As noted in today's article by Michael Biesecker, the bill would prohibit North Carolina-run universities, colleges and community colleges from using school accreditation to make admissions, scholarship and loan decisions unless applicants come from high schools accredited by a state agency. It also would require the state Board of Education to begin accrediting North Carolina public high schools at the request - and expense - of the school districts.

The driving force for the bill were Republican legislators from Wake and Burke counties, where both school districts have found themselves facing sanctions from AdvancED. Democrats pointed out that funding for the state BOE would be slashed in the budget the GOP-controlled legislature approved last week, and asked whether the agency could properly administer any new duties.

The bill now moves to the state Senate.

Wake County school board member Chris Malone focused on the AdvancED accreditation investigation during his speech at last Thursday's Northern Wake Republican Club meeting.

Malone related his "interrogation" with the AdvancED team saying that "one of the first things that happened to me was one of the fellas pointed his finger at me and said, 'I just want you to know that I don't like your policies.'"

"I thought, well okay," Malone said. "I said to him well obviously you're not a fan and we sat down and continued the interview, interrogation, whatever you want to call it."

Jim Horn of the liberal Schools Matter blog is firing more barbs at the Wake County school board majority as he comment on a pair of bills in the state legislature.

In a blog post today, Horn writes that "the Koch-Heads in the North Carolina legislature" introduced the high school accreditation bill in case AdvancED pulls the plug "for the County's irresesponsible (sic) and mis-educative resegregation practices."

Horn adds that the "same geniuses that sponsored that bill" have also introduced a bill that would allow school board chairman Ron Margiotta to vote on all issues. Horn writes that the bill "would give the incompetent leader of the Gang of Five a vote, just in case Wake County citizens wake up and turn out one or more of these puppets of the John Birchers in the next school board election."

The high school accreditation bill being sought for by school leaders in both Wake and Burke counties cleared the state House Education Committee today.

The bill would prohibit North Carolina-run universities, colleges and community colleges from using school accreditation to make admissions, scholarship and loan decisions unless applicants come from high schools accredited by a state agency. It also would require the state Board of Education to begin accrediting North Carolina public high schools at the request - and expense - of the school districts.

Apex Mayor Keith Weatherly, the legislative assistant to House Majority Leader Paul Stam, said the bill was approved on a voice vote. There were both ayes and nays.

The bill now moves to the House Appropriations Committee.

The ongoing Wake County schools saga has replenished the letter store after the holiday slump. Here are 20. Some of these will end up in print:

N.C. Central University's accreditation is intact.

The university received reaffirmation of its accreditation this week from the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

The accrediting body was no doubt familiar with NCCU. A year ago or so, it worked with NCCU to sort through the mess created by an unauthorized satellite campus administered at a suburban Atlanta church run by Eddie Long, a former NCCU trustee.

But that's all behind NCCU now. The accreditation renewal runs through 2019.

 “I’m obviously pleased that the Commission reaffirmed our accreditation," said Chancellor Charlie Nelms. "I want to thank the faculty and staff for their continuous commitment to teaching and learning and their diligent pursuit of means to enhance the quality and effectiveness of our programs.”


 
The reaccreditation process included a self-evaluation NCCU submitted to SACS several months prior to an April site by a SACS team that evaluated the university's compliance with the agency's standards.

Louisburg College has finally received some good news after a lot struggle to stay afloat.

The university has retained its accreditation after a battle that included significant budget cuts.

Details here.

Louisburg College has been put on probation by the major regional accrediting agency.

The action happened at the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools' Commission on Colleges meeting this week in San Antonio, Texas.

Louisburg, the state's only private, two-year college, has struggled with financial problems and burdensome debt in recent years. The college will be on probation for a year related to four unspecified standards of the  accrediting organization, a news release from Louisburg said.

Louisburg was placed on warning status a year ago. Probation is more serious, according to a description of sanctions on the association's web site. If the college loses accreditation, it would be almost impossible for Louisburg to remain open, because its students would no longer be eligible for federal financial aid.

A group from the accrediting body will assess the college again after a site visit next fall. At the meeting in Texas, Louisburg leaders were asked questions about admissions, academic support, financial recovery and overall stability of the institution.

The college is trying to emerge from its trouble with the help of a new president, Mark La Branche, who was appointed last month.

Louisburg leaders have made progress, Rodney Foth, interim president, said in a news release. "We must continue our current efforts, which will result, absent of any unforeseen events, in the Commission lifting the probation sanction in December 2009," Foth said.

I've been writing a lot about the satellite campus in Georgia that N.C. Central University recently shuttered after running into accreditation problems.

But not quite everything makes the paper; thus, here are a couple bits and pieces from my notebook. (Throughout this post, you'll find links to everything I've written on this issue)

As you may have read in Sunday's News & Observer, NCCU recently folded an unauthorized collection of degree programs it was operating at a megachurch in suburban Georgia whose pastor is a university trustee.

Students who earned degrees through the program may not have got what they thought they were getting. NCCU officials haven't said a lot on the issue, but did release this statement Monday: