BILL NUMBER:  S6780

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the state finance law, in relation
to establishing the board of regents institutional accreditation
account to provide the framework for the state education department to
spend monies received and/or revenues generated for institutional
accreditation purposes; and to amend the education law, in relation to
services and functions relating to institutional accreditation

 PURPOSE OF THE BILL :

The purpose of the bill is to establish the framework needed, provided
the enactment of an appropriation, to allow the Department to spend
monies received, including appropriations, revenues and/or other
monies received for institutional accreditation purposes, to support
the Department's accreditation function including the addition of
dedicated accreditation staff, and expenses incurred by the Department
in order to support and enhance conducting accreditation activities
for institutions of higher education in this State.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1 of the bill adds a new section 97-YYYY to the State Finance
Law to establish the "Board of Regents institutional accreditation
account" to allow the Department to receive for deposit to the credit
of such account, revenues generated pursuant to regulations of the
              

commissioner of education for services and expenses incurred by the
state education department in conducting accreditation of institutions
of higher education or monies appropriated or otherwise provided to
the state education department for such purposes.

Section 2 of the bill adds a new subdivision 7 to section 212 of the
education law to clarify the Department's authority to collect
revenues from institutions of higher education that seek to be
accredited by the Department.

Section 3 is the effective date.

 STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF THE BILL :

The Regents have been engaged in the evaluation of quality in higher
education in New York since 1787. The federal government has
recognized the Regents and the Commissioner as a national
institutional accrediting agency since 1952. New York is the only
state with this recognition. Currently, 14 New York colleges and
universities hold institutional accreditation by the Regents.

Institutional accreditors must meet the federal government standards
for accrediting agencies and ensure that accreditation and
accreditation renewal processes and decisions are made consistent with
those standards. These processes, which include review of voluminous
documents and extensive site visits to the institutions, are time and
resource intensive for the accrediting agencies.

Other institutional accrediting agencies in this region (e.g., the
Middle States Commission on Higher Education or "Middle States")
support their functions by charging their participating institutions.
For example, Middle States charges its participating institutions both
annual dues, calculated on the institution's total educational and
general expenditures, as well as fees for various
accreditation-related activities (information session fees,
application fees, site visit fees and expenses, etc.).

Currently the Department does not charge for institutional
accreditation. While there are many benefits of this accreditation
function carried out by the Office of Higher Education through its
Office of College and University Evaluation, accreditation activities
divert limited financial and staff resources from other important
functions (e.g., program registration and institutional oversight.)

The bill would provide for the establishment of an account to allow
the Department to collect and spend monies received for accreditation
purposes, provided an appropriation, to support its accreditation
function, including the addition of dedicated accreditation staff, and
expenses incurred to support and enhance the accreditation of
institutions of higher education in this State. An appropriation would
also be needed by the Legislature and Executive, starting in the
2018-19 budget and beyond, to make up the difference between the
monies collected under this bill and the $650,000 that the Department
needs to hire the staff, which would need to be approved by the
Division of Budget, and the resources required to do this work until
such time that sufficient fees were collected/provided to the
Department from the accredited institutions. Without this additional
staff and resources, the Department will not be able to perform these
additional duties necessary to be an accrediting agency authorized by
the U.S. Department of Education.

 BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS OF THE BILL :

Unknown.

 PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

This is a new bill.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This bill shall take effect immediately.