Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is going after a big game in his latest battle over Florida and education. He is suing the Biden administration over the college accreditation system, which he rightfully calls unaccountable.

Inside Higher Ed reports …

Florida governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, and other state officials argue in the lawsuit filed last week that Congress has “ceded unchecked power” to the private accrediting agencies, violating the U.S. Constitution. They want a federal judge to permanently block the Education Department from enforcing accreditation-related provisions of the Higher Education Act. Currently, federal law requires that colleges and universities be accredited by an Education Department–recognized accreditor in order to receive federal student aid such as Pell Grants.

“The result is that private accrediting agencies enjoy near limitless power over state institutions,” Florida officials wrote in the initial complaint. “Accrediting agencies have the power to hold billions of federal education dollars hostage based on the formulation and application of substantive education standards that are immune from meaningful government supervision.”

[Accreditation boards should have been enforcing rigorous academic standards. Lately, however, they have been accomplices in the gutting of education in favor of progressive indoctrination, and are a major impediment in fixing the problem. This is a good first shot across the bow. — Ed]