Providing our local residents with the education and skills to fill the employment needs of our community is central to the mission of the State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota. I was very encouraged Gov. Ron DeSantis chose to emphasize workforce education with one of his earliest executive orders, and that he recognized the role of institutions like SCF in leading our statewide effort.

It is critical to invest in the workforce programs provided by SCF and our Florida College System partner institutions. We provide the degree programs and certificates in high demand, high wage areas that get our residents into the workforce and allow them to advance in their professions. We don’t just train people to work, we educate and prepare students for careers.

These programs are valuable to our communities, but also expensive to create and maintain. SCF’s high-demand health science workforce programs cost three to four times that of a general education program. Workforce programs require equipment and materials unique to the related industry and specially trained faculty that bring relevant, current experience into the classroom. All our students, however, pay the same tuition whether they are pursuing general education or a nursing degree.

As the community’s college, we are committed to these programs and always working with our industry partners to develop new degree programs or certificates that provide the right level of skills and time to completion for a profession. We have an advisory council of industry experts for each workforce program to ensure our education is relevant and impactful.

We are working with our state legislature this year to get a highly impactful investment into our flagship workforce program and meet one of Florida’s most pressing needs. SCF has requested $2.15 million in annual funding to establish the Nursing Center of Excellence to address the critical shortage of registered nurses in our region. This funding will allow SCF to hire the instructional and clinical faculty and support personnel required to increase the annual size of the Associate of Science in Nursing two-year degree program from 160 to 220. Our ultimate goal is to double the enrollment in the ASN program from 160 to 320.

SCF has state-of-the-art nursing education facilities, the support of area hospitals and the local talent available to double its enrollment in the registered nursing program. What we lack is the annual funding to hire the teaching and clinical faculty and support personnel required by an expanded nursing student body.

Our RN program is one of the most accomplished and productive in the state of Florida. The College has the highest average Nursing Board exam pass rates in the region (98-100 percent) for the past decade. SCF has produced more than 560 registered nurses in the last five years.

We can expand our two-year registered nursing program immediately if additional funding is provided. The program management, facilities and relationships with local hospitals are already in place. This is a turn-key opportunity to create more nurses for our region. Across the state, Florida College System nursing programs graduate more than 4,000 registered nurses per year. Funding our entire state college system to increase its nursing output could resolve the nursing shortage in Florida. We are ready.

Dr. Carol Probstfeld is president of State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota.