BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Research Center S.B. 289
By: Nelson
AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
Currently, the nursing shortage in Texas is exacerbated by a shortage of quality nursing faculty. Nursing schools have difficulty recruiting and retaining faculty, as many practicing nurses make higher salaries than faculty and wish to remain in active practice.
S.B. 289 encourages nursing schools to utilize more part-time or adjunct faculty by allowing professional nursing shortage reduction grants to be used for part-time faculty. This will help schools recruit nurses to serve as faculty who wish to remain in practice but also have a desire to teach.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends Section 61.9623(a), Education Code, to require grant funds from the professional nursing shortage reduction program to be expended on costs related to certain innovative methods to make the most effective use of limited professional nursing faculty, space, or other resources, including using preceptors or part-time faculty to provide clinical instruction to address the need for qualified faculty to accommodate increased student enrollment in the professional nursing program. Deletes existing text specifying that preceptors are to be used to reduce the number of new faculty needed.
SECTION 2. Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2007.