Urgent Call to Action on behalf of SARA
March 18, 2022 Update:
Thank you to everyone who sent letters and emails, reached out, or tuned in to help support SARA this past week during Negotiated Rulemaking. NC-SARA is so pleased about the extent of the responses that were shared on behalf of this call to action. The department needed to have unanimous agreement among the negotiators to make any proposed changes final. The committee did not come to consensus on the proposed language in Issue Paper #6. At this point, the next version will be drafted by the department and will be open for public comment through the Federal Register. We anticipate this will occur this summer. NC-SARA is both monitoring the situation as it evolves, and preparing a coordinated action plan. We will keep everyone posted with next steps soon.
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This week (March 14-18, 2022) is the final week of the Department of Education’s Negotiated Rulemaking (Neg Reg) process. Issue Paper #6 (Certification Procedures), to be discussed by the committee, includes language that would directly impact and drastically limit the application of SARA. This issue is regarding § 668.14 Program Participation Agreement, Subsection (32)(iii) (see page 7).
In a nutshell, should this proposed language move forward, the gains we’ve experienced with SARA since the first state became a member in 2014 would be nullified, and we would all move backwards to the patchwork of state authorization distance education regulations that existed before SARA.
Please help protect SARA by writing a letter at your earliest convenience, participating in public comments, and/or tuning in to the meetings.
To support these efforts, NC-SARA has established a webpage with all the information you need to take action now, including a Call to Action and Information Sheet, letter templates, email addresses, and important website links.
Update: Please note that if you send a letter, you may receive a return reply that written comments are not being accepted at this time; NC-SARA thanks you for your support and encourages you to continue to participate by signing up for the public comment period and tuning into the meetings. See NC-SARA's Call to Action document for information. We will continue to post updates on our Neg Reg Call to Action webpage.