2005 California Education Code Sections 94700-94705 Article 1. General Provisions

94700.  This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the
"Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education Reform Act of 1989."
94705.  It is the intent of the Legislature to promote the effective
integration of private postsecondary education into all aspects of
California's educational system and to foster and improve the
educational programs and services of these institutions while
protecting the citizens of the state from fraudulent or substandard
operations.
   It is further the intent of the Legislature to recognize the
enormous diversity of California's private postsecondary educational
enterprise, with its approximately 2,300 privately supported
institutions of academic and vocational education.
   It is further the intent of the Legislature to provide for the
protection, education, and welfare of citizens of California, its
postsecondary educational institutions, and its students by providing
for all of the following:
   (a) Ensuring minimum standards of instructional quality and
institutional stability for all students in all types of
institutions, and thereby encouraging the recognition by public and
private institutions of completed coursework and degrees and diplomas
issued by private institutions, to the end that students will be
provided equal opportunities for equal accomplishment and ability.
   (b) Establishing minimum standards concerning the quality of
education, ethical and business practices, health and safety, and
fiscal responsibility to provide protection against substandard,
transient, unethical, deceptive, or fraudulent institutions and
practices.
   (c) Prohibiting the granting of false or misleading educational
credentials.
   (d) Prohibiting misleading literature, advertising, solicitation,
or representations by private educational institutions or their
agents.
   (e) Recognizing the importance of providing adequate funding
through application and renewal fees and federal funding for the
veteran's approval process to support the state's activities in
implementing this chapter.
   (f) Protecting the consumer and students against fraud,
misrepresentation, or other practices that may lead to an improper
loss of funds paid for educational costs, whether financed through
personal resources or state and federal student financial aid.
   (g) Establishing a path for the development of institutions
offering fields of study or methods of instruction and innovative
educational delivery systems not previously recognized in order to
encourage them to become fully approved institutions.
   (h) Recognizing and encouraging quality nongovernmental
accreditation, while not ceding to that or any other nongovernmental
process the responsibility for state oversight for purposes of
approval, if the accreditation process fails either to protect
minimum standards of quality or to acknowledge legitimate innovative
methods in postsecondary education.
   (i) Establishing an administrative agency staffed by individuals
who are knowledgeable about private academic and vocational
education, and charged with the responsibility of developing policies
and procedures for the oversight and approval of private
postsecondary and vocational education, including the responsibility
for managing a broadly construed policy and planning process that
seeks to improve state accountability for private postsecondary and
vocational education as well as to improve the articulation of
private postsecondary and vocational education with the public and
independent postsecondary educational community.  This new body
should provide the leadership and planning needed to maintain and
develop a strong private sector of this community.