Education Dept. regulatory reform task force finds over 150 rules to review

Following President Trump’s directive, the Education Department said Thursday that its newly formed Regulatory Reform Task Force has completed an initial canvas of its rules, identifying 150 regulations for department offices to review.

The agency said the Office of Postsecondary Education had already identified the Gainful Employment and Borrower Defense to Repayment as two rules to repeal, replace or modify. Those rules, finalized under President Barack Obama, aim to reign in for-profit colleges.

The department is following an executive order Trump issued in February directing each agency to create a task force to evaluate existing regulations and make recommendations to the agency head regarding their repeal, replacement or modification, consistent with applicable law.

The progress report is required under the order.

“The Regulatory Reform Task Force has been hard at work over the last few months cataloguing over 150 regulations and more than 1,700 pieces of policy guidance on the books at the Department of Education,” Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said in a statement.

“As their work continues, they have been tasked with providing recommendations on which regulations to repeal, modify or keep in an effort to ensure those that remain adequately protect students while giving states, institutions, teachers, parents and students the flexibility needed to improve student achievement.”

In its report, the task force said it’s requiring each department office to make an initial recommendation on whether the regulation and guidance meet the order’s criteria for repeal, replacement or modification.

The task force said the rules that will be reviewed range from matters of general applicability such as the department seal and service of process to the privacy of education records and Title IX, anti-discrimination laws.

Those recommendations are due by June 30.