STATEMENT: PDE Action Supports Rep. Burgess Owens’ Accreditation for College Excellence Act, H.R. 2516

Parents Defending Education Action is pleased to support Rep. Owens’ Accreditation for College Excellence Act, H.R. 2516, which would bar federally recognized accreditors from imposing political litmus tests on colleges and universities. 

Accreditors control access to federal student aid which make them one of higher education’s most powerful gatekeepers. Many of them have used this leverage to push diversity, equity, and inclusion mandates onto institutions. H.R. 2516 ends that practice and codifies President Trump’s executive order on accreditation. It protects schools’ access to federal funding by prohibiting accreditors from requiring, encouraging, or coercing institutions to adopt any political or social viewpoint. Crucially, it also protects the rights of religious schools to maintain statements of faith and codes of conduct. 

The House Education and Workforce Committee has already advanced this bill. We urge House leadership to bring H.R. 2516 to the floor for a vote, and we urge the Senate to take it up and send it to President Trump for his signature.

Dr. Terry Stoops 

Director of Government Affairs 

Parents Defending Education Action