as it continued to teach evolution alongside creationism. The original agreement expired in 1995, and California Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education (BPPVE) granted the ICR religious exemption from postsecondary school requirements in California. In 1982, the ICR received accreditation from the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS), a private fundamentalist creationist schools accreditation agency. TRACS was officially recognized as an accreditor by the US Department of Education in 1991. Following the ICR's move to Dallas, in November 2007, TRACS terminated its accredited status. Texas does not recognize TRACS' accreditation. The ICR's relocation to Texas required Texas state approval or accreditation by a regional accrediting agency, in this case Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). In 2007, the ICR applied for a temporary state certification there which would have allowed the institute to operate while it pursues accreditation through SACS. In December 2007, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) received an advisory committee recommendation to allow the ICR to start offering online master's degrees in science education. The Board originally planned to decide on the issue at their January 2008 meeting. At the time it applied, ICR graduate school had approximately 30 to 50 students, most teachers from private Christian schools or home-schoolers, and four full-time faculty. After seeking the advice from an independent panel, the Chairman of the Texas Board requested information about the research conducted by the faculty, how an on-line program would expose students to the experimental side of science, and asked why "[t]heir curriculum doesn't line up very well with the curriculum available in conventional master of science programs." Subsequently, the ICR asked the THECB to delay its decision until their next meeting to give them time to respond. Inside Higher Ed reported "lobbying — by scientists against the institute, and by others in its favor — is going strong." The Dallas Morning News obtained some of the messages sent to the board and published a number of examples and summaries that illustrated how intense the debate had become. Following the response from the ICR to the Board, Steven Schafersman, of the Texas Citizens for Science, reported that the ICR sent out "prayer requests" and is currently arguing a creationist derived distinction of science in their application for approval. On April 23, 2008, education board's Academic Excellence and Research Committee unanimously voted against allowing the ICR to issue science degrees citing