Florida Senate - 2021                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SPB 7070
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì618396RÎ618396                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
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       The Committee on Education (Gruters) recommended the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Before line 60
    4  insert:
    5         Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (5) of section
    6  464.019, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
    7         (5) ACCOUNTABILITY.—
    8         (a)1. An approved program must achieve a graduate passage
    9  rate for first-time test takers which is not more than 10
   10  percentage points lower than the average passage rate during the
   11  same calendar year for graduates of comparable degree programs
   12  who are United States educated, first-time test takers on the
   13  National Council of State Boards of Nursing Licensing
   14  Examination, as calculated by the contract testing service of
   15  the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. For purposes of
   16  this subparagraph, an approved program is comparable to all
   17  degree programs of the same program type from among the
   18  following program types:
   19         a. Professional nursing education programs that terminate
   20  in a bachelor’s degree.
   21         b. Professional nursing education programs that terminate
   22  in an associate degree.
   23         c. Professional nursing education programs that terminate
   24  in a diploma.
   25         d. Practical nursing education programs.
   26         2. If an approved program’s graduate passage rates do not
   27  equal or exceed the required passage rates for 2 consecutive
   28  calendar years, the board shall place the program on
   29  probationary status pursuant to chapter 120 and the program
   30  director shall appear before the board to present a plan for
   31  remediation, which shall include specific benchmarks to identify
   32  progress toward a graduate passage rate goal. The program must
   33  remain on probationary status until it achieves a graduate
   34  passage rate that equals or exceeds the required passage rate
   35  for any 1 calendar year. The board shall deny a program
   36  application for a new prelicensure nursing education program
   37  submitted by an educational institution if the institution has
   38  an existing program that is already on probationary status.
   39  3. Upon the program’s achievement of a graduate passage rate
   40  that equals or exceeds the required passage rate, the board, at
   41  its next regularly scheduled meeting following release of the
   42  program’s graduate passage rate by the National Council of State
   43  Boards of Nursing, shall remove the program’s probationary
   44  status. If the program, during the 2 calendar years following
   45  its placement on probationary status, does not achieve the
   46  required passage rate for any 1 calendar year, the board may
   47  extend the program’s probationary status for 1 additional year,
   48  provided the program has demonstrated adequate progress toward
   49  the graduate passage rate goal by meeting a majority of the
   50  benchmarks established in the remediation plan. If the program
   51  is not granted the 1-year extension or fails to achieve the
   52  required passage rate by the end of such extension, the board
   53  shall terminate the program pursuant to chapter 120. If a
   54  program on probationary status fails to achieve the required
   55  passage rate for the 2020 calendar year, including a program
   56  subject to termination during the 2021 calendar year, the board
   57  shall extend the program's probationary status for 1 additional
   58  year. The board shall grant such extension at a regularly
   59  scheduled meeting during the 2021 calendar year.
   60  
   61  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   62  And the title is amended as follows:
   63         Delete line 3
   64  and insert:
   65         educational institutions; amending s. 464.019, F.S.;
   66         requiring the Board of Nursing to extend an approved
   67         program's probationary status under certain
   68         circumstances; creating s. 768.39, F.S.;