(Excerpts from Higher Ed News)

• The Florida Senate Education Committee approved a bill Tuesday that would require public colleges and universities in the state to switch accrediting agencies at the end of each accreditation cycle.
• Earning accreditation—which typically lasts between 8 and 10 years, with a review at the halfway point—is a years-long process. If passed in both chambers of the Florida Legislature, the new bill would create major financial and logistical headaches for institutions, experts say. It could also stymie the kind of innovation and improvement that often result from strong and continuous college-accreditor partnership.
• A different perspective from a different regional accreditor would be helpful to our universities,” Republican state senator Manny Diaz Jr. said during the Senate Education Committee meeting Tuesday.
• But the bill’s critics—which include several accrediting agencies—believe that it could be an attempt at political retaliation by the Senate Republicans, the majority party, against the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, the regional accrediting agency for Florida Institutions.
• The bill states that higher education institutions may take legal action against their accreditors if they are “negatively impacted by retaliatory action” from that accreditor. It’s unclear exactly what actions would be considered retaliatory under the bill.