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By Joe Dejka
From: Omaha World Herald
A new federal education rule would jeopardize distance learning programs at Nebraska colleges and universities, Sen. Ben Nelson said Thursday.
Nelson criticized Education Secretary Arne Duncan on the eve of his scheduled visit to Nebraska on Friday.
The Nebraska senator called on his fellow Democrat to abandon enforcement of the distance learning rule that takes effect July 1. It will require education institutions that offer online or correspondence courses to students in any other state to seek authorization from that state.
The University of Nebraska offers nearly 80 bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral and specialist degree programs to more than 20,000 students in the United States and around the world.
“The flawed distance learning regulation is just one example of the disconnect that seems to exist between the U.S. Department of Education and Nebraskans,” Nelson said in a statement.
If there are “bad actors” among institutions offering distance learning, the department should go after them and not tie up the good ones in additional regulation and expense, Nelson said.
NU President J.B. Milliken wrote a letter to Nelson that said the new regulation is causing “great uncertainty” for states, colleges and universities.
Nelson said he hopes Duncan will address the rule and other concerns of Nebraska educators during his visit. The senator also took aim at other federal education policies that he said are a poor fit for Nebraska.
Competitive education grant programs, which have been expanded by the Obama administration, unfairly pit rural schools against bigger, urban schools, he said. Nelson said he would like to even the playing field by setting aside some of that grant money for rural applicants — something that he has proposed in legislation called the Full Service Community Schools Act.
Nelson also criticized the tying of federal funding for struggling schools to reforms such as firing the principal or half the teachers at a school, closing such schools or converting them to charter schools. He said those are unreasonable solutions in rural areas.
In rural areas, charter schools don’t make sense because personnel is limited and high schools represent the community hub for entire counties, Nelson said.
“This Department of Education seems to be the best at being top-down and having one-size-fits-all proposals, as opposed to recognizing that Beatrice, McCook, Grand Island or other schools are not Chicago.”
Duncan ran the Chicago Public Schools before his appointment as education secretary in 2009.
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