04/13/2005 GAAS:132:05 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Print Version | Email / Share
Governor Schwarzenegger Announces the California Nurse Education Initiative
Announces Plan to Provide $90 Million Over 5 Years through a Public-Private Partnership to Reduce California’s Nursing Shortage
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced the California Nurse Education Initiative, a five-point plan to reduce California’s critical nursing shortage. The Governor kicked off the Initiative designed to add thousands of additional nurses to California’s hospitals and health care facilities over the next five years, by announcing a $90 million public-private partnership to provide funding for nurse education.
“Nurses are people of compassion and courage. Their profession is a labor of love and without them we simply could not deliver quality care for patients. California is facing a severe nursing shortage and it is absolutely critical that we open up the nursing profession to everyone who has the passion and potential,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. “With this new Initiative we are going to improve the quality of health care everywhere in our state. We are going to provide more classes, more teachers and more resources to expand the ranks of nurses in California.”
California graduates fewer than 6,000 nurses annually, but studies show at least 9,500 new nurses are needed each year to keep pace with demand. Currently, the state’s hospitals have a shortage of 14,000 nurses and over 40 percent of applicants for nurse education programs are turned away each year due to lack of program capacity. California’s shortage has national as well as international implications, since almost one-half of nurses working in the state come from outside of California.
The changing demographic of California’s aging population also contributes to the importance of reversing the nursing shortage. According to recent statistics, the elderly population in California will continue to grow rapidly in the next 30 years, with the number of Californians over age 65 increasing from 3.7 million in 2000 to 6.3 million in 2020. At the same time, according to the Bureau of Registered Nurses, over three-fourths of the state’s registered nurses are age 40 or older and almost half are age 50 and older with the average age being just over 47 years - five years higher than the national average.
“This Administration has consistently identified nursing as one of the top three priorities for workforce development,” said Victoria Bradshaw, secretary of the Labor and Workforce Development Agency. “This effort is a great step in creating an effective partnership to rebuild California’s capacity for nurse education.”
In the 2004-05 state budget, the Governor made the nurse shortage a priority for Workforce Investment Act funds and began issuing grants through the Employment Development Department. By partnering with California Community Colleges and the private sector, the Governor’s Nurse Education Initiative will leverage these grants to provide a total of $18 million a year in funding for nursing education over the next five years for a total of $90 million. These funds are in addition to the $13 million in grants the Governor awarded to local workforce development organizations, educational institutions and community-based organizations for nurse education earlier this year.
“We are grateful that Governor Schwarzenegger has expressed his confidence in California Community Colleges in helping to solve the state’s nursing shortage,” said California Community Colleges Chancellor Marshall Drummond. “California Community Colleges graduated more than 70 percent of the state’s registered nursing students last year, and we expect this program will increase our ability to put even more registered nurses in our hospitals.”
In addition to the Community College partnership, the Governor’s Initiative contains several other short-term, mid-term and long-term goals. The plan proposes additional partnerships between private schools and health facilities to develop more nursing education programs; encourages expansion of nursing programs within the University of California and the California State University campuses; seeks changes in laws that hamper the ability of public schools to employ more part-time nursing teachers; requires development of new nursing pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs that prepare youth, young adults and workers for nursing careers; and partners with the federal government and other funding sources for broader spending authority.
The Governor has also created an ongoing task force to oversee the implementation of his Nurse Education Initiative. The secretaries of Labor and Workforce Development; Health and Human Services; State and Consumer Services; the Secretary of Education; the Chancellor of California Community Colleges; and representatives of the University of California and the California State University system will all serve as members of this task force.
Governor Schwarzenegger’s Nurse Education Initiative: 5-Point Plan
1: $90 million Nurse Education Initiative
* A five-year commitment with quarterly grant disbursements.
* Targets Workforce Investment Funds to support nurse education in partnership with Community Colleges and other sources.
* Encourages creative solutions to expand education capacity and retain students.
2: Public-Private Partnerships
* Encourages private schools and health facilities to partner and develop more nursing educational programs.
* Expands nursing education within the University of California and State University systems.
* Expands availability of distance learning in nursing programs.
* Eliminates any statutory impediments to the creation of public-private partnerships.
3: Recruiting Quality Instructors
* Changes current laws that limit the size of nursing faculty within the higher educational system.
* Recruits former nurses to teach on a part-time basis.
* Develops a loan forgiveness program for students who teach in nursing programs.
* Creates a program to encourage hospitals to loan nurses to teach in nursing programs, while paying their salaries.
4: New Avenues to Nursing Careers
* Creates nursing Academies at high school and college levels.
* Recruits nursing candidates with health care backgrounds.
* Creates statewide Nursing Apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs.
* Encourages veterans to enter nursing.
5: Seeking More Funds
* Seeks changes in federal requirements for Workforce Investment Act funds that may limit nurse education expansion.
* Seeks additional funds for nursing education from the federal government and foundations.
