(1) The commission shall:

(a) Hold meetings as necessary to administer its duties.

(b) Annually select a chairperson and a vice chairperson, appoint and review an executive director, and authorize the executive director to appoint employees of the commission.

(c) Adopt and use an official seal in the authentication of its acts.

(d) Make rules for its own governance.

(e) Administer the provisions of this chapter. To this end, the commission has the following administrative powers and responsibilities:

1. The commission shall adopt rules pursuant to ss. 120.536(1) and 120.54 for the operation and establishment of independent postsecondary educational institutions. The commission shall submit the rules to the State Board of Education for approval or disapproval. If the state board does not act on a rule within 60 days after receiving it, the rule shall be filed immediately with the Department of State.

2. The commission shall submit an annual budget to the State Board of Education.

3. The commission shall transmit all fees, donations, and other receipts of money to the Institutional Assessment Trust Fund.

4. The commission shall expend funds as necessary to assist in the application and enforcement of its powers and duties. The Chief Financial Officer shall pay out all moneys and funds as directed under this chapter upon vouchers approved by the Department of Education for all lawful purposes necessary to administering this chapter. The commission shall make annual reports to the State Board of Education showing in detail amounts received and all expenditures. The commission shall include in its annual report to the State Board of Education a statement of its major activities during the period covered by the report.

(f) Maintain a record of its proceedings.

(g) Cooperate with other state and federal agencies and other nongovernmental agencies in administering its duties.

(h) Cause to be investigated criminal justice information, as defined in s. 943.045, for each owner, administrator, and agent employed by an institution applying for licensure from the commission.

(i) Serve as a central agency for collecting and distributing current information regarding institutions licensed by the commission. The commission shall annually collect, and all institutions licensed by the commission shall annually report, student-level data from the prior year for each student who receives state funds, in a format prescribed by the Department of Education. At a minimum, data from the prior year must include retention rates, transfer rates, completion rates, graduation rates, employment and placement rates, and earnings of graduates. By December 31, 2013, the commission shall report the data for the 2012-2013 academic year to the Department of Education. By October 1 of each year thereafter, the commission shall report the data to the department.

(j) Inform independent postsecondary educational institutions of laws adopted by the Legislature and rules adopted by the State Board of Education and the commission and of their responsibility to follow those laws and rules.

(k) Establish and publicize the procedures for receiving and responding to complaints from students, faculty, and others concerning institutions or programs under the purview of the commission, and keep records of such complaints in order to determine the frequency and nature of complaints with respect to specific institutions of higher education.

(l) Provide annually to the Office of Student Financial Assistance of the Department of Education information and documentation that can be used to determine an institution’s eligibility to participate in state student financial assistance programs.

(m) Coordinate and convey annual reports to the Commissioner of Education relating to campus crime statistics, the assessment of physical plant safety, and the antihazing policies of nonpublic postsecondary educational institutions eligible to receive state-funded student assistance, as required by law.

(n) Identify and report to the Office of Student Financial Assistance the accrediting associations recognized by the United States Department of Education which have standards that are comparable to the minimum standards required to operate an institution at that level in this state.

(o) Assure that an institution is not required to operate without a current license because of the schedule of commission meetings or application procedures, if the institution has met the commission’s requirements for licensure or license renewal.

(2) The commission may:

(a) Sue or be sued.

(b) Enter into contracts with the Federal Government, with other departments of the state, or with individuals.

(c) Receive bequests and gifts, subject to any restrictions upon which the commission and the donor agree.

(d) Appoint standing or special committees to assist it in carrying out its responsibilities. Committees may include members who are not commission members or representatives of licensed postsecondary institutions.

(e) Advise the Governor, the Legislature, the State Board of Education, and the Commissioner of Education on issues relating to private postsecondary education.

(f) Delegate to the chairperson of the commission the responsibility for signing final orders.

(g) Assist independent postsecondary educational institutions in formulating articulation agreements with public and other independent institutions.

(h) Establish and operate additional offices in the central and southern part of the state if the concentration of licensed institutions renders such an office economically feasible.

(i) Establish and administer the Student Protection Fund pursuant to s. 1005.37.

History.—s. 252, ch. 2002-387; s. 104, ch. 2007-217; s. 8, ch. 2012-195; s. 13, ch. 2013-51.