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Senate committee hears divided testimony on bill to relax instructor degree requirement for nursing programs
Summary
Supporters told a Senate committee that Senate Bill 334 would ease a faculty bottleneck by allowing schools to hire instructors with degrees one level higher than the program they teach; opponents warned it could threaten accreditation, career mobility and quality if long-term care providers used the change to run unaccredited programs.
A Senate committee heard competing views Wednesday on Senate Bill 334, which would add a requirement to the statutory school-approval process that nursing-school faculty hold a nursing degree at least one level above the program they teach, while authorizing the Board of Nursing to grant exemptions for hardship.
Rachel Munger, president and CEO of LeadingAge Kansas, told the committee that the state’s problem is not a lack of students but a shortage of faculty and that the bill “codifies flexibility” already used in higher education by allowing programs to hire instructors…
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