SACRAMENTO, Calif., Sept. 22, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The parent company of Nightingale College, an accredited and national award-winning nursing school, is asking the court to issue a preliminary injunction against the California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) that would allow more than 1,300 graduates an opportunity to start their careers by taking the NCLEX-RN examination. Nightingale filed a lawsuit on Aug. 24, claiming the BRN unlawfully applied unpublished and undefined standards without notice despite previously authorizing testing for almost 2,200 graduates and licensing nearly 2,000 of them under the identical curriculum.
This week, Nightingale will request an expedited hearing on the preliminary injunction, which would require the BRN to process pending Nightingale graduate applications to test under the published licensing standards that Nightingale contends California law requires. Last week, Nightingale amended its lawsuit, adding constitutional claims against BRN Executive Officer Loretta Melby in her official capacity.
“The BRN’s opaque enforcement of underground regulations and vague requirements never officially adopted under California laws are causing great harm to Nightingale College’s graduates and California’s healthcare system,” said Mikhail Shneyder, Nightingale Education Group CEO and founder. “Nightingale intends to end the BRN’s whack-a-mole approach to what has been considered an equivalent nursing education until May 2026.”
The BRN recently notified some California applicants that it requires additional coursework before it will allow Nightingale graduates to test for licensure. Those identified additional requirements listed up to 140 additional direct patient care hours, including 30 concurrent direct care and theory hours in both obstetrics and pediatrics.
Nightingale disputes the BRN’s interpretation and maintains its current curriculum follows published regulations, in both the required hours and concurrency. Should Nightingale’s motion for a preliminary injunction be granted by the court, the BRN will be required to reprocess all applications under the existing lawful standards and issue authorizations to test (ATT) to Nightingale graduates. However, the school will also provide a path for graduates to address the disputed requirements currently being applied by the BRN rather than waiting for the legal process to conclude.
Should the motion for a preliminary injunction be denied, any additional coursework needed beyond the published program curriculum will be provided to graduates at no cost. The college’s California Graduate Information Center offers the latest and most accurate information about the BRN situation.
Nightingale College
Nightingale College is dedicated to advancing health equity by creating opportunity and access to nursing education across the United States. The College offers accredited programs at the certificate, associate, baccalaureate, and master levels through its innovative learning model. Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Nightingale College combines online coursework with hands-on experiential learning in local communities to develop confident, competent, and compassionate nurses who address critical workforce shortages and improve health outcomes across diverse populations. For more information, visit nightingale.edu.
Media Contacts
Paul Murphy
pmurphy@nightingale.edu
Shannon Michael
Smichael@nightingale.edu
