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In 2010, an alliance of conservative republicans took over the North Carolina legislature for the first time in 100 years and are now implementing legislation which can be traced back to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). It is no coincidence this occurred in 2010, because this was the year the Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United, and the Republican takeover was financed by North Carolina multimillionaire Art Pope.
A new North Carolina law that establishes a new State Board of Proprietary Schools went into effect January 1, 2012, at the same time it was being reported in the news that Kaplan College was surrendering its license to operate its Charlotte dental assisting program after the school was caught misrepresenting accreditation status to students.
It seems that the exposure of misconduct at for-profit Kaplan College's Charlotte dental assisting program has shined a light on Pope, ALEC, and other conservative advocacy groups, which are implementing an anti-education agenda with racial overtones in North Carolina under the guise of "liberty and free enterprise."
The problems at Kaplan's dental assisting program raise questions about the wisdom of North Carolina Senate Bill 685, which passed quietly last June in the North Carolina General Assembly. The bill created a new State Board of Proprietary Schools, which has the authority to license and regulate for-profit trade schools and colleges which grant certificates and associate degrees.
Senate Bill 685 transfers the licensing and regulation of for-profit colleges and trade schools from the North Carolina Community College System (NCCS) to the new State Board of Proprietary Schools. According to legislation, the new board is made up of seven members, four of which must come from the for-profit educational industry, establishing a system of self-regulation by and for the for-profit college industry.
This new law effectively dismantles regulatory oversight. It could be model legislation related to one of Americans For Prosperity's objectives: to establish separate licensing commissions outside of the State Department of Public Instruction.
While North Carolina was busy handing over licensing and regulation of for-profit colleges to for-profit colleges, Kentucky was busy doing the opposite; they were introducing House Bill 308 to change a similar regulatory scheme in the state whereby six of 11 seats on a for-profit state board were held by for-profit college insiders.
