By Tim Carpenter and Morgan Chilson, Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — Supporters in the Kansas Legislature of a bill altering educational expectations of college nursing faculty say they’ve hit upon a possible answer to the state’s persistent nursing shortage.
The thrust of Senate Bill 334, on its way to Gov. Laura Kelly, would forbid the Kansas State Board of Nursing from requiring a credential for instructors that was more than one level above the degree sought by students being taught. In other words, the holder of a bachelor’s degree could teach community college nursing students. The recipient of a master’s degree in nursing could teach students enrolled in a bachelor’s degree program.
“This is an excellent bill,” said Rep. Megan Steele, a Manhattan Republican who has worked as a Christian school nurse and director of an Oklahoma college’s online nursing program. “There is no reason … a baccalaureate-prepared nurse cannot work in a community college to teach associate-level degree nurses.”
Currently, the Board of Nursing mandates faculty complete a graduate degree in nursing, though a bachelor of science in nursing may be allowed if the individual plans to achieve a graduate degree in six years. An exemption allowed schools of nursing to hire a person with a bachelor’s degree in nursing to teach clinical courses when unable to hire a master’s degree-prepared educator, but that teacher must be supervised.
The bill would forbid the Board of of Nursing from enforcing its elevated standard at nursing schools. Individual nursing schools could adopt hiring preferences that went above the Legislature’s new baseline.
About one-fourth of Kansas’ legislators, especially a group of highly vocal House Democrats, said allowing nursing school faculty to be one academic step removed from their students was a prescription for inadequate instruction, ill-equipped graduates and bedside mistakes on the job.
“This bill potentially puts Kansans in danger,” said Rep. Stephanie Sawyer Clayton, D-Overland Park. “The logic that is allowed under this bill would be like saying, ‘Because someone had graduated the eighth grade, then they’re qualified to teach seventh-graders.’ ”
On Wednesday, the House voted 81-43 to approve the bill. That followed a February vote of 38-2 in the Senate. If the governor vetoed the bill, the Senate but not the House demonstrated it had a two-thirds majority needed for an override.
The University of Kansas Medical Center reported in September 2025 the number of nurses working in Kansas had declined since 2019. The state’s nursing workforce was aging with 22.1% of registered nurses and 20.5% of licensed practical nurses at age 60 or older.
The ratio of nurses to Kansans hadn’t improved in the past 10 years, the medical center said, and nursing deserts existed in Kansas, particularly in the western and southeast parts of the state.
Legislators advocating for the bill said resetting the bar in terms of academic credentials for nursing faculty could lead to more student slots, produce more graduates and replenish the state’s workforce.
“Does it really matter who or how the material is delivered?” said Rep. Sean Tarwater, R-Stilwell. “I don’t care if you learned it on YouTube. Let’s get more nurses out there.”
Tarwater’s indifference to how colleges provided nursing instruction wasn’t well-received by professionals monitoring the Legislature’s debate.
“My initial reaction was: I have never heard a legislator disrespect a profession on the House floor,” said Kelly Sommers, a retired registered nurse and former executive director of the Kansas State Nurses Association. “It’s an insult that Representative Tarwater thinks that a nurse educator can be replaced with anyone with a textbook or by watching YouTube.”
Sommers, who testified against the bill in the Senate, said Tarwater’s statement “clearly indicates that nurse education and the role of nurses in health care is devalued.”
The bill has been championed for two years by LeadingAge Kansas, an association lobbying on behalf of nonprofit service providers that included nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
Rachel Monger, president of LeadingAge Kansas, said the bill would address a bottleneck in Kansas’ nursing workforce pipeline by “creating reasonable flexibility in nurse faculty hiring standards without lowering educational or quality expectations.”
She said nursing programs across Kansas were struggling to recruit master’s-prepared nurses willing to accept significantly lower wages in education compared to clinical practice. In addition, she said, the bill recognized degree attainment alone couldn’t define teaching effectiveness.
Rep. Melissa Oropeza, a nurse practitioner and Democrat from Kansas City, Kansas, said teachers mattered at every level of education. She said the bill was more about complying with a business model than doing what was best for patients.
“This is really a business deal. This is about opening up unaccredited lower-quality schools,” said Oropeza, who serves on the state Board of Nursing. “At the end of the day, I would prefer a quality, safe nurse who knows what they’re doing compared to someone who has not been trained appropriately. We are talking about people’s lives.”
Rep. Barb Wasinger, a Hays Republican who carried the bill on the House floor, dismissed a complaint registered by Rep. Chuck Smith, R-Pittsburg, that the bill would lower academic standards in nursing schools. She likewise rejected the contention by Rep. Kirk Haskins, D-Topeka, that the bill would undermine accreditation at colleges or universities with nursing programs.
She said the Board of Nursing affirmed Kansas had a nursing shortage but nevertheless opposed the legislation. She referenced controversy about the state board’s regulation of nurse licensure, which prompted demands among nurses and legislators for overhaul of the agency.
“It’s it amazing that the nursing board, who is under so much scrutiny right now, are the ones that are trying to tank this bill,” Wasinger said.
