I know very little about the politics behind the accreditation process. Is the local job market taken into account by the accrediting body?
Tons of politics involved...
In most states the Boards of Pharmacy do not register pharmacy schools so they cannot stop them from opening by denying them a permit.
ACPE does not assess job demand, just adequately meeting its educational standards. Inability to place students in APPEs (or complaints about such) would be under their purvue, but that would be at least 3-4 years after a school took in its first class.
Any kind of school that is accredited by any regional accreditation board (in this case SACS) that applies to the federal dept. of ed. should be able to offer federal student loans (and regardless of ACPE status).
The best case study of all of this for you happened in Florida. As an undergrad in South Florida and applicant to NSU and LECOM Bradenton (among others) for Fall 2010 I was very vigilant about USF's intent to start a pharmacy school which started in 2009...
USF's proposal got approved by the Board of Governors because they did not feel it would be a burden on the State's budget.
The Legislature voted against funding the new pharmacy school because they felt it would be burdensome.
USF raised $1 million privately to keep the proposal viable.
To reduce costs they offered to put it on their budding USF campus in Lakeland.
On the last day of the legislative session the legislature authorized $10 million for startup and $5 million for construction on the planned starchitect Santiago Calatrava designed new construction campus in Lakeland.
I recall that the state's department of education issued guidance that they had concern over students being able to find enough rotations in Lakeland (especially when LECOM Bradenton was considered).
The Governor vetoed the $10 million for USF Poly Pharmacy (polypharmacy?) in Lakeland.
The proposed campus was then moved back to Tampa (with no long term funding or buildings) in time for ACPE inspection.
USF was able to get Pre-Candidate accreditation status from ACPE even though they had no permanent facilities.
The legislature felt slighted and decided to force USF to divest of Lakeland to spin it off as Florida Polytechnic U., which would be it's own institution in the State University System of Florida.
'Stuck' with a Pre-Candidate school that was ready to admit students but could not the legislature appropriated $3 million for startup in Tampa.
USF in Tampa opened and is fully accredited since 2014.
I do not mean any of this at all to bash USF's Pharmacy School. Please do not take it that way. I'm sure that it is fine and produces great pharmacists. Heck, I would have applied to it if they were accepting in my cycle. And no one can deny that their Founding Dean is extremely determined.
What I'm saying is that even when the Governor, Legislature, & DOE do drastic things to prevent a new school from opening it can still happen, especially in Florida where Larkin is proposed.
