Senate panel advances bill setting minimum education level for nursing instructors

The Senate Commerce Committee voted to report Senate Bill 334 favorably after members debated whether new instructor-education requirements would help expand the nursing workforce or risk student outcomes.

Committee staff told the panel that SB 334 “relates to nursing workforce development and provides education levels for instructors at nursing schools,” and would amend KSA 65-11-19 to require evidence that a program’s faculty “possess a nursing degree awarded by a state or nationally accredited school of nursing … at least 1 level more advanced than the degree awarded by the program in which they are teaching.” The bill would prohibit the Board of Nursing from requiring credentials beyond the statute and would permit the board to grant exemptions to schools facing hiring hardship.

Supporters, including Senator Owens, said the change simply allows accredited nursing schools to use instructors who hold the next-higher degree — for example, four-year degree holders teaching in two-year programs — which supporters argued would ease staffing and help expand capacity. Owens moved the measure out of committee; Senator Miller seconded the motion. Senator Tyson told the chair he intended to abstain; the chair called the vote and the motion carried. The transcript does not include a roll-call tally.

Opponents had raised concerns that the change could reduce instructor preparedness and lower pass rates on the national licensure exam. One conferee warned that inadequate faculty preparation could harm student outcomes. Senator Owens and other supporters disputed a framing in opposition testimony that the bill would allow nursing homes to create colleges, and a committee member later pointed out that the submitted testimony was from an individual who previously worked at Baker University, not an official Baker University representative.

SB 334, as described in committee, sets a minimum faculty-education standard tied to accreditation and allows narrow exemptions for hardship; the committee forwarded the bill to the next stage. The transcript references KSA 65-11-19 and the Board of Nursing as the statute and agency the bill would modify or interact with.