{"id":108345,"date":"2026-01-07T00:24:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T00:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/108345\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T00:24:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T00:24:14","slug":"florida-lawmakers-target-nursing-schools-as-state-faces-60000-nurse-shortage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/108345\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida lawmakers target nursing schools as state faces 60,000 nurse shortage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV\/Gray Florida Capital Bureau) &#8211; Florida needs about 60,000 new nurses over the next decade to keep up with demand, and state lawmakers are targeting schools failing to get them ready.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">About 85% of people coming out of Florida nursing schools are passing their licensing boards the first time, a number state lawmakers are trying to improve.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cThat\u2019s just not acceptable,\u201d said Rep. Toby Overdorf, R-Palm City.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The Florida Hospital Association projects a shortage of nearly 60,000 nurses in the next decade. State lawmakers want to change that by making sure nurses are ready when they graduate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">National data shows Florida is dead last when it comes to nurses passing the licensing boards the first time, with the national average above 88%.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cWe need to be getting educated nurses. We need to be getting them through the process, and this bill addresses that,\u201d Overdorf said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Overdorf\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flhouse.gov\/Sections\/Bills\/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=82646\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.flhouse.gov\/Sections\/Bills\/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=82646\">bill<\/a> is ready to pass the House when lawmakers begin session next week. It adds more oversight to nursing programs in Florida.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The bill requires health department inspections, shortens probation periods, holds program directors accountable, and mandates tuition refunds if 30% of students fail board exams.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cWe have students that are going through these processes, they become entrenched in debt and they have no job because the school didn\u2019t prepare them to pass the final test,\u201d Overdorf said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The Florida Nurses Association says the bill will ensure more nurses are ready to care for Florida\u2019s growing and aging population.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cA school in nursing is like passing a law school and not passing the Florida Bar. You cannot practice. You cannot succeed,\u201d said Jack Cory of the Florida Nurses Association.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The Florida Association of Independent Nursing Schools says lawmakers already addressed the nursing shortage with the Live Healthy Act, a comprehensive health care workforce package.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cI think it was a good step two years ago when the legislature passed. It has made the schools that come into this much better when they start the program,\u201d said Bob Harris of the Florida Association of Independent Nursing Schools.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The governor vetoed a similar bill last year, but Overdorf says this year\u2019s version addresses some of his concerns.<\/p>\n<p class=\"copyright |\">Copyright 2026 WCTV. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV\/Gray Florida Capital Bureau) &#8211; Florida needs about 60,000 new nurses over the next decade to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108346,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[1442,28,2161,7931,1443,34468,55498,55497,8440,99,232,234,233,5960],"class_list":["post-108345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-cody-butler","tag-florida","tag-government","tag-healthcare","tag-legislature","tag-nurses","tag-nursing-license-exam","tag-nursing-school-oversight","tag-nursing-shortage","tag-politics","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news","tag-toby-overdorf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}