Votes at a glance: Education Committee actions on program approvals, curriculum changes and testing policies

The Kansas State Board of Nursing Education Committee recorded a series of formal motions and votes during its March 6 meeting. Items below summarize each formal action recorded in the transcript and the committeeoutcome.

Votes at a glance

- Consent agenda (nursing education staff report; 2025 site visit schedule; petition summary; draft regulation reviews AR 60-17-106 through AR 60-17-111): Motion to approve consent agenda carried.

- Approval of minutes (12/10/2024 education committee): Motion passed.

- Washburn Tech: Initial site-visit report accepted; recommendation granted initial approval of Washburn Tech ADN program with permission to admit 60 students annually (30 in August, 30 in January); follow-up visit required before first graduation. Motion carried.

- Hutchinson Community College: Reapproval site-visit report accepted for ADN/PN programs (five-year reapproval for specified program). Motion carried.

- Donnelly College: Unscheduled site-visit report accepted; both RN and PN programs placed on conditional approval; admissions to be ceased for at least six months pending remediation and follow-up site visit. Motion carried.

- Pittsburg State University: Major curriculum change requesting an admission increase (packet said the program was approved for 95 admits and requested flexibility to increase; committee approved the request to allow a gradual increase, not immediate full increase to 120). Motion carried.

- University of Kansas (three motions): (1) Increase BSN admissions from 150 to 240 in the traditional program (progressive implementation) — approved. (2) Approve flexibility for up to five courses to be offered in-person or hybrid — approved. (3) Change clinical hour-to-credit ratio from 4:1 to 3:1 (reducing total clinical hours from 07:20 to 05:40) — approved.

- Cloud County Community College: Approved bilevel designation for the ADN program permitting students the option to sit for the PN NCLEX after first year, and approved initial application for a PN program and admissions to start fall 2025 with follow-up site visit prior to full PN approval; approved admissions up to 100 annually for each year in transition. Motion carried.

- Manhattan Area Technical College: Approved major curriculum change eliminating a three-week RN transition course and redistributing hours into NUR220/221 (change in credit distribution; no change to total program credit hours). Motion carried.

- Kansas Wesleyan University: Approved change to deliver Introduction to Professional Nursing (NURS 250) in hybrid rather than fully online format. Motion carried.

- University of Saint Mary: Approved modest credit-hour redistribution between foundation and maternal-child courses (one course increased from 5 to 6 credits; another reduced from 5 to 4). Motion carried.

- Fort Scott Community College: After reviewing the programupdate and remediation progress, committee approved admission of a 20-student cohort for fall 2025 with a site visit to verify completion of recommendations. Motion carried.

- OET (Occupational English Test): Committee approved adding OET as an approved English-language proficiency test for internationally educated applicants and adopted HRSA-aligned minimum standards (OET equivalency roughly aligned to IELTS 6.5 in reading/listening/writing and 7.0 in speaking per HRSA mapping). Motion carried and will be forwarded to the full board for final action.

- International Education Evaluations (IEE): Committee approved adding International Education Evaluations as an approved credentials-evaluation provider for internationally educated nurse applicants seeking Kansas licensure. Motion carried.

- APRN programs: Committee reapproved graduate APRN programs on full approval retroactive to 2025-01-01 through 2026-12-31. Motion carried.

How the tally was recorded: Most motions were approved by voice vote with "all in favor" and the transcript records motions as carried. Roll-call vote tallies or individual named votes are generally not printed in the transcript excerpt.

Notes: Several items (Donnelly conditional approval; Cloud County bilevel PN approval; Fort Scott conditional re-admissions/admit) require follow-up site visits or submission of remediation documentation; those follow-ups are scheduled or to be scheduled by KSBN staff. The committee asked several programs below the 80% NCLEX standard to present improvement plans at the June meeting.