Private postsecondary education: Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education Reform and Student Consumer Protection Act of 2009.

The former Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education Reform Act of 1989, which became inoperative on July 1, 2007, and was repealed on January 1, 2008, was administered by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education in the Department of Consumer Affairs. The former act generally effectuated legislative intent to ensure minimum standards of instructional quality and institutional stability in private postsecondary educational institutions and required the bureau, among other things, to review and investigate all institutions, programs, and courses of instruction approved under the act. This bill would enact the Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education Reform and Student Consumer Protection Act of 2009, which would express the intent of the Legislature to, among other things, provide for the protection, education, and welfare of California's citizens, postsecondary educational institutions, and students, as specified. The bill would require the California Postsecondary Education Commission to establish a Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education to function as the statewide private postsecondary and vocational educational licensing and enforcement agency, in accordance with the act. The bill would require the commission, working through its executive director, to fulfill specified functions and responsibilities under the act. The bill would require each private postsecondary education institution desiring to operate in this state to apply to the bureau for licensure. The bill would establish procedures and standards for application and bureau licensure. The bill would authorize the commission to impose a school licensure fee on each institution making application to the bureau, in accordance with an unspecified fee schedule, and would require the costs of implementing the act to be covered by fee revenues. The bill would require the Legislative Analyst's Office, by January 1, 2013, to review the effectiveness of the bureau in implementing the act and submit a report of its findings to the commission, the Legislature, and the Governor. The bill would provide that a private postsecondary institution approved under the former Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education Reform Act of 1989 as of June 30, 2007, shall, at a minimum, be recognized as an approved institution through the reapproval period that the institution had as of June 30, 2007, plus 2 additional years beyond that date.