6A-10.0352. Linking Industry to Nursing Education (LINE) Fund

(1) Purpose. The purpose of this rule is to set forth the requirements relating to the Linking Industry to Nursing Education (LINE) Fund, which is intended to meet local, regional, and state workforce demand by recruiting faculty and clinical preceptors, increasing the capacity of high-quality nursing education programs, and increasing the number of nursing education program graduates who are prepared and licensed to enter the workforce. (2) Definitions. (a) “Health care partner” means a health care provider as defined in Section 768.38(2), F.S. For purposes of the LINE Fund, the health care partner must be licensed to operate in the state and make a monetary or nonmonetary contribution to the postsecondary institution. (b) “Contributor” means any health care partner or other person or entity that makes monetary or nonmonetary contributions to the participating institution for the purposes outlined in Section 1009.8962, F.S. (c) “Department” means the Florida Department of Education. (d) “Institution” means a school district career center under Section 1001.44, F.S., a charter technical career center under Section 1002.34, F.S., a Florida College System institution, or an independent nonprofit college or university located and chartered in this state and accredited by an agency or association that is recognized by the database created and maintained by the United States Department of Education to grant baccalaureate degrees, or an independent school, college, or university with an accredited program as defined in Section 464.003, F.S., which is located in this state and licensed by the Commission for Independent Education pursuant to Section 1005.31, F.S., or an institution as outlined in Section 1009.521, F.S., which has a nursing education program that meets or exceeds the following: 1. For a certified nursing assistant program, a completion rate of at least seventy (70) percent for the prior year. 2. For a licensed practical nurse, associate of science in nursing, and bachelor of science in nursing program, a first-time passage rate on the National Council of State Boards of Nursing Licensing Examination of at least seventy-five (75) percent for the prior year based on a minimum of ten (10) testing participants. (e) “Student” means a person who is a resident for tuition purposes pursuant to Section 1009.21, F.S., and enrolled in a nursing education program at an institution. (f) “Eligible purpose” means student scholarships, recruitment of additional faculty and preceptors; increasing program enrollment, program completion, and licensure exam passage rates; equipment; simulation centers; and internships. Funds may not be used for the construction of new buildings, but may be used to expand, retrofit, or upgrade existing facilities if the proposal will either increase enrollment or improve the educational space for an institution’s nursing education students. (g) “Match” means the LINE funds provided to the institution on a dollar-to-dollar basis, subject to funds availability, to the health care partner’s contribution. (h) “Contribution” means the monetary or nonmonetary contributions provided by an eligible health care partner or other person or entity to an eligible postsecondary institution. (3) Notification of Funding Opportunity. Each year that the LINE Fund is funded by the legislature, the Department will publish notice of the availability of grants and Request for Proposals at https://www.fldoe.org/academics/career-adult-edu/funding-opportunities at least fifteen (15) days prior to the notice of intent submission. The notification of funding opportunity will include: (a) Grant period. (b) Date to submit a notice of intent to apply for a grant. The notice of intent will be due fifteen (15) days following publication of the notification of funding opportunity. (c) Deadline to apply for the grant. Proposals will be accepted as early as thirty (30) days following the notice of intent deadline. (d) The dollar amount of available grant funds. (4) Proposals. If funds are designated in the General Appropriations Act, the Department shall solicit proposals for LINE funds. To be eligible for an allocation, proposals must include the following components which will be used to prioritize funding along with the criteria established in subsection (5). (a) To participate, an institution’s president, chief administrative officer, or designee must submit a timely and completed proposal to the Department in a format prescribed by the Florida Department of Education. (b) The total amount of LINE funds requested and a detailed budget for the expenditure of these funds, including personnel costs, operating expenses, equipment costs and training expenses, and other allowable expenses. (c) Narrative explaining how the institution plans to use the contributor’s contribution and LINE matching funds to address the criteria in subsection (5). The narrative must outline how the institution will improve the likelihood that graduates will successfully join the state or local workforce, either through employment with a health care partner or by other means. (d) Statement of assurances that statutory requirements will be satisfied. (e) Documentation of contributor’s monetary or nonmonetary contribution. Documentation must indicate either the cash amount or a signed agreement for a nonmonetary contribution the contributor plans to contribute (“pledged”) or has contributed (“fulfilled”). For the contributions, the following conditions apply: 1. If the contribution has been pledged but not been fulfilled at the time of application, acceptable documentation includes a scope of work, copies of irrevocable pledge letters, or letters of intent; the documentation must indicate the timeline for the fulfillment of the contribution. 2. If the contribution has been pledged and fulfilled at the time of application, acceptable documentation includes financial statements, bank statements, budget reports, or bank letters that show the cash transaction(s). 3. Nonmonetary contributions are limited to the following: a. The value of the donated use of health care partner employees as nursing education program instructors or preceptors. b. The value of the donated use of a health care partner’s space or equipment for a nursing education program. c. The value of the donated educational or simulation equipment. d. Other similar quantifiable donated goods and services from a contributor deemed by the Department to be good faith contributions that support the goals of the LINE Fund as outlined in subsection (1). 4. If the contribution is nonmonetary, objective verification of the value of that contribution must be submitted. The Department may require additional information or a third-party appraisal if the documentation is insufficient to verify the value of the nonmonetary contribution. 5. A proposal may not be comprised solely of nonmonetary contributions. (f) All proposals must abide by the Project Application and Amendment Procedures for Federal and State Programs (GREEN BOOK). (5) Review Process. (a) The Department will evaluate and rank, by institution type, each completed and timely submitted proposal on the extent to which the application supports the following minimum criteria, where applicable: 1. Whether monetary and nonmonetary contributions committed by the contributor will contribute to an eligible purpose. 2. How the institution plans to use the funds, or nonmonetary contributions, including how such funds or nonmonetary contributions will be utilized to increase student enrollment and program completion. 3. How the health care partner will onboard and retain graduates or otherwise improve the likelihood that graduates will successfully join the state or local workforce. 4. How the funds or nonmonetary contributions will be used to expand the institution’s nursing education programs to meet local, regional, or state workforce demands. If applicable, this shall include advanced education nursing programs and how the funds or nonmonetary contribution will increase the number of faculty and clinical preceptors and planned efforts to utilize the clinical placement process established in Section 14.36, F.S. (b) Once the proposals are evaluated and ranked pursuant to paragraph (5)(a), the Department will consider the strength of the proposed programs, the geographic location of the proposals and statewide workforce demands in order to promote the distribution of funds and avoid a concentration of funds in a small number of institutions. (c) Monetary contributions from contributors shall receive priority when awarding matching funds to institutions. (6) Award Notice. The Department will award grant funding on a dollar-to-dollar basis, up to the amount of the fund or the fair market value of the nonmonetary contribution, including notifications made on a rolling or periodic basis subject to available funds, to eligible institutions. The Department will notify institutions of the approved proposals and award amounts. (a) Subject to available funds, for every monetary or nonmonetary contribution to an institution by a contributor, the funds shall provide a dollar-to-dollar match to the participating institution to implement the activities outlined in the institution’s approved proposal. (b) If deemed to meet the long-term goals of the LINE Fund, the Department may award funds for an approved proposal for up to 2 academic years immediately following the academic year within which the initial approval is granted, for a total of 3 academic years. If the Department approves a multi-year award to an institution, the award amount in subsequent years is subject to a LINE Fund appropriation and the continued notification of the contributor’s contribution to match the multiyear award of state funds. (7) Disbursements. Prior to the release of funds to an institution that has been awarded LINE funds, the institution must provide to the Department documentation of the contributor providing the monetary or nonmonetary contribution to the institution. If the contribution is monetary, then it may be given to the institution in quarterly payments, so long as the amount received in the first quarter is at least a one-fourth the total contribution amount. Acceptable documentation includes financial statements, bank statements, budget reports, or bank letters that show the cash transaction(s). To accept nonmonetary contributions as matching funds, the applicant must provide documentation of the contribution in dollars. The Department will certify that the proposed contribution directly supports the goals of the LINE Fund outlined in subsection (1) and Section 1009.8962, F.S., and may require additional documentation to verify fair market value including, but not limited to, a third party appraisal. If an institution receives a nonmonetary contribution which is given over time, the institution must submit to the Department documentation that the contribution was fulfilled at the end of each academic term. Funds will be released in accordance with the General Appropriations Act or, no more frequently than on a quarterly basis. (8) Required Reporting. Annually, by February 1, institutions that were awarded LINE funds in the previous fiscal year must report to the Department all information required by Section 1009.896(9)(b), F.S. Minimally, the report must include, by program level, the number of additional nursing education students enrolled; if scholarships were awarded using grant funds, the number of students who received scholarships and the average award amount; and the outcomes of students as reported by the Office of Reimagining Education and Career Help pursuant to Section 14.36(3)(l), F.S. No later than thirty (30) days before the submission deadline, the Department will release guidelines for institutions to transmit an electronic file to meet this requirement.