South Florida College Challenges State Over Nursing Program

TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) - A Miami Gardens-based college is challenging a decision by the Florida Board of Nursing that could shut down the school's nursing-education program.

Azure College filed a legal challenge that was sent this week to the state Division of Administrative Hearings.

The Board of Nursing in July issued a notice of intent to terminate the nursing program, pointing to low passage rates for the school's graduates on licensure exams. But in the challenge, Azure argued that it showed progress under an earlier remediation plan.

"The petitioner (Azure) was advised that its program would be terminated if it failed to appear at the board's June 2015 meeting to demonstrate adequate progress towards the graduate passage rate goal by having met a majority of the benchmarks established in its remediation plan,'' the challenge says. "As noted and argued at the hearing, the petitioner met a majority of the benchmarks set forth in its accepted remediation plan, and therefore demonstrated adequate progress towards the passage rate goal."

The case is similar to a recent challenge filed by Taylor College in Marion County. That challenge, which was sent last week to the Division of Administrative Hearings, involves a Board of Pharmacy decision to terminate Taylor College's nursing program because of an inadequate passage rate.

The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.