The U.S. Department of Education, which last June froze the Career Education Corporation’s ability to open new campuses, is now a step closer to lifting that restriction, according to a filing today by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In the filing, the company reports that it was recently informed that the department was partly satisfied with Career Education’s responses to questions about its financial-aid practices and other matters. The filing said the department “will re-evaluate the ongoing general restrictions” that it imposed last year (The Chronicle, July 15, 2005) after it reviews the company’s annual compliance audits for 2005. Career Education said it would file those audits by June 30.