Statement of Institutional Commitment
In response to the National Call to Action on higher education issued by U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon on August 3, 2026, and at the invitation of Florida Commissioner of Education Henry Mack, August 18, 2026.
Preserva Institute is a private postsecondary institution in Lake Wales, Florida, licensed by the Florida Commission for Independent Education (Campus #12975). We prepare Massage Therapists and Facial Specialists (Esthetics) for careers in Florida’s wellness economy through hands-on, clinical-based programs built to state education and licensure standards. We welcome the Secretary’s call. Not every question it raises applies to a school of our kind — we conduct no research and hold no federal research portfolio — but the questions that shape teaching, honesty, affordability, and workforce readiness apply squarely to us. We affirm the following commitments.
Transparent, merit-based admissions
Admission to Preserva Institute follows published standards applied equally to every applicant: completion of our enrollment process and a suitability review for professional, client-facing work — including, for the Massage Therapy program, a high school diploma or equivalent as required for state licensure. We grant no illegal preferences of any kind, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, age, or any other characteristic protected by law. Every applicant is evaluated on the same criteria, and those criteria are available to the public.
A learning environment of inquiry, discipline, and mutual respect
Our campus is a professional training environment and a working student clinic that serves the public. We protect open and respectful exchange among students and staff, and we maintain firm written standards — in our student and employee handbooks — against disruption, harassment, and any conduct that would compromise the safety of our learning or clinical operations. Those standards are enforced consistently and without exception.
Intellectual pluralism in curriculum and hiring
Our curriculum is competency-based, defined by industry practice and the requirements of state licensure — not by ideology. We hire faculty and staff for their licensure, professional experience, and teaching ability. Instruction and assessment measure knowledge and demonstrated skill, never viewpoints.
Affordability, transparency, and outcomes
We publish our tuition and fees openly, offer payment plans and financing options, and keep our programs as short as state requirements allow so students enter the workforce with as little debt and lost income as possible. We track completion, licensure, and employment outcomes and report them honestly — to our students, and to the public and agencies entitled to them.
Academic rigor and honest assessment in the AI era
All state-required instructional hours must be completed in full before graduation — there are no shortcuts. Attendance and performance standards apply to every student. Grades reflect demonstrated competence: practical skill sign-offs and theory assessments that cannot be faked, inflation-resistant by design. Where artificial-intelligence tools have legitimate roles in professional practice, we teach and govern their use accordingly; they are never accepted as a substitute for a student’s own demonstrated skill.
American students and Florida’s workforce
Our students come from our community, and they go to work in it. Our graduates serve Central Florida’s spas, clinics, wellness practices, and hospitality industry — the workforce our region depends on. Prioritizing Florida’s students and Florida’s workforce needs is not a policy we adopted; it is the purpose we were founded on.
Our commitment
Preserva Institute embraces this call to codify and publicize the standards we expect of ourselves. We will hold to them, report on them honestly, and cooperate fully with the Commission and the Department of Education in this work.
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Published in response to the Florida Commissioner of Education’s letter of August 18, 2026. A copy of this statement has been provided to the Florida Commission for Independent Education and to the Office of the Commissioner of Education.