1. (a) General Information. The program, as it applies to this section:

   1. (1) Purpose--To provide funding to eligible hospitals in partnership with one or more nursing schools to establish, expand or pilot innovative degree programs which serve to increase the number of students enrolled in and graduating from nursing degree programs.
   2. (2) Authority--Texas Education Code, §§61.9751 - 61.9759

   3. (3) Eligible degree program--Degree programs offered through hospital-based nursing education partnerships which:

      1. (A) use existing expertise and facilities of the partners. This restriction does not prohibit a hospital or nursing school from requesting grant funds to support reasonable development and initial implementation costs necessary to support a new degree program. Hospitals and nursing schools proposing an expansion of an existing degree program may request grant funds to support reasonable development and implementation costs for expanding the degree program with the specific intent to increase the number of students enrolled. Hospitals and nursing schools in existing partnerships may not request grant funds for initial or on-going costs incurred in operating an existing degree program. The Commissioner shall make the final determination of a partnership's eligibility for funding to support development and initial implementation costs.
      2. (B) meet applicable Board and Texas Board of Nursing standards for instruction and student competency, or receive approval from the Board and the Texas Board of Nursing to waive those standards as a pilot project. The application for approval of a pilot project will be contained in the Request for Proposal;
      3. (C) require each nursing school participating in the partnership, as a result of the partnership, to enroll in the degree program a sufficient number of additional students as specified in the Request for Proposal;
      4. (D) provide comparable marginal costs to the state of producing a graduate from a nursing school that is participating in partnership with the marginal costs to the state of producing a graduate from a nursing school not participating in a partnership. The range of acceptable marginal costs will be calculated by the Board and contained in the Request for Proposal. Criteria used to determine marginal costs are based on the appropriate formula funding calculation for nursing increased by a factor to adjust to the full reported costs of a representative sample of the nursing schools. The Board may differentiate marginal costs by type of institution or by other institutional or educational characteristics which better reflect the actual costs of different kinds of partnerships.
      5. (E) provide students with appropriate clinical placements to fulfill licensing and academic requirements of the degree.
   4. (4) Application requirements--Applications shall be submitted to the Board in the format and at the time specified by the Board.

   5. (5) General Selection Criteria--Competitive. Designed to award grants that provide the best overall value to the state. Selection criteria shall be based on:

      1. (A) Program quality as determined by peer reviewers;
      2. (B) Impact the grant award shall have on academic instruction and training in nursing education in the state;
      3. (C) Cost of the proposed program; and
      4. (D) Other factors to be considered by the Board, including financial ability to perform the program, state and regional needs and priorities, ability to continue the program after the grant period, and past performance.
   6. (6) Minimum award--$50,000 per award in any fiscal year.
   7. (7) Maximum award--30 percent of the estimated available funding per award in any fiscal year.
   8. (8) Maximum award length--A program is eligible to receive funding for up to three years, contingent upon available funds and a positive evaluation of the progress and effectiveness of the program after the first and second years of funding.

2. (b) Peer Review.

   1. (1) The Board shall use peer reviewers to evaluate the quality of applications.
   2. (2) The Commissioner shall select qualified individuals to serve as reviewers. Peer reviewers shall demonstrate appropriate credentials to evaluate grant applications in nursing education. Reviewers shall not evaluate any applications for which they have a conflict of interest.
   3. (3) The Board staff shall provide written instructions and training for peer reviewers.

   4. (4) The peer reviewers shall score each application according to these award criteria which incorporate the specific priority criteria stated in Texas Education Code, §61.9754:

      1. (A) Originality;
      2. (B) Potential replication;
      3. (C) Partnership design;
      4. (D) Degree program design;
      5. (E) Student services;
      6. (F) Matching funds;
      7. (G) Cost effectiveness;
      8. (H) Evaluation and expected outcomes; and
      9. (I) Sustainability of program.

3. (c) Application Review Process.

   1. (1) The Board staff shall review applications to determine if they adhere to the grant program requirements and the funding priorities contained in the Request for Proposal. An application must meet the requirements of the Request for Proposal and be submitted with proper authorization before or on the day specified by the Board to qualify for further consideration. Qualified applications shall be forwarded to the peer reviewers for evaluation. Board staff shall notify applicants eliminated through the screening process within 30 days of the submission deadline.
   2. (2) Peer reviewers shall evaluate applications and assign scores based on award criteria. All evaluations and scores of the reviewers are final.
   3. (3) Board staff shall rank each application based on points assigned by peer reviewers, and then may request that individuals representing the most highly-ranked applications make oral presentations on their applications to the peer reviewers and Board staff. The Board staff may consider reviewer comments from the oral presentations in recommending a priority ranked list of applications to the Commissioner for approval.

4. (d) Funding Decisions.

   1. (1) Applications for grant funding shall be evaluated only upon the information provided in the written application.
   2. (2) The Board will approve grants based upon the recommendation of peer reviewers and Board staff.
   3. (3) Funding recommendations to the Commissioner shall consist of the most highly ranked and recommended applications up to the limit of available funds. If available funds are insufficient to fund a proposal after the higher-ranking and recommended applications have been funded, staff shall negotiate with the applicant to determine if a lesser amount would be acceptable. If the applicant does not agree to the lesser amount, the staff shall negotiate with the next applicant on the list of highly ranked applications.
   4. (4) If the Board does not use all of the available funds for the program, unspent funds may be used to make grants under the Professional Nursing Shortage Reduction Program and the Nursing, Allied Health, and Other-Health-related Education Grant Program.
5. (e) Contract. Following approval of grant awards by the Commissioner, the successful applicants must sign a contract issued by Board staff and based on the information contained in the application.
6. (f) Cancellation or Suspension of Grants. The Board has the right to reject all applications and cancel a grant solicitation at any point before a contract is signed.
7. (g) Request for Proposal. The full text of the administrative regulations, budget guidelines, reporting requirements, and other standards of accountability for this program are contained in the official Request for Proposal available upon request from the Board.
8. (h) Grants, Gifts, and Donations. The Board may solicit, receive, and spend grants, gifts, and donations from any public or private source for the purpose of this subchapter.
9. (i) Administrative Costs. Three percent of any money appropriated for purposes of this subchapter may be used to pay the costs of administering the program.

Source Note:The provisions of this §6.83 adopted to be effective November 28, 2007, 32 TexReg 8492.