Dive Brief:
- The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges says it will not extend its July 31 deadline for the City College of San Francisco to fix serious fiscal and governance problems or face closure.
- The commission is refusing to extend the deadline because it says that would violate federal rules but House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has received written assurances from Laynn Mahaffie, a senior accrediting director with the U.S. Department of Education, that an extension is possible.
- The commission says it is concerned that the Mahaffie letter would not protect it from previous Education Department notices, which said the commission had already been too lenient with the college. The commission itself runs the risk of losing federal recognition if its policies are too lax.
Dive Insight:
According to SFGate.com, California Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier is calling for the Department of Education to shut down the commission, calling it “a rogue operation” and similar to a totalitarian regime. For California politicians and education officials, it seems obvious that the federal education department wants the college's deadline to be extended..