Pete Forsyth wrote:
I read this article with some concern. Thoughts?
http://venturebeat.com/2014/01/29/california-regulator-seeks-to-shut-down-le...
Cracking down on people teaching other people how to write code??
Well, after reading further, it's not as bad as it sounded at first. It looks like these learn-to-code schools are charging thousands of dollars per student, so there's potential for abuse, and so at least some reasonable basis for wanting government oversight.
There's a big list of criteria for exempt institutions here: http://bppe.ca.gov/lawsregs/ppe_act.shtml#94874 including this:
"(f) An institution that does not award degrees and that solely provides educational programs for total charges of two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) or less when no part of the total charges is paid from state or federal student financial aid programs."
The main law appears to be this:
"94886. Except as exempted in Article 4 (commencing with Section 94874 [quoted above]) or in compliance with the transition provisions in Article 2 (commencing with Section 94802), a person shall not open, conduct, or do business as a private postsecondary educational institution in this state without obtaining an approval to operate under this chapter."
and here is the definition of "private postsecondary educational institution":
"94858. 'Private postsecondary educational institution' means a private entity with a physical presence in this state that offers postsecondary education to the public for an institutional charge."
So, unless the hackathons and editathons are awarding degrees or charging money, I don't think there's anything to worry about. If there's really some concern, it might be worth asking a lawyer, but I don't think it's worth arranging a meeting just for this.