ATLANTA --- Gov. Sonny Perdue has jumped into the fray over whether students of a nontraditional nursing program should be allowed to be licensed as registered nurses in Georgia.

Meanwhile, a key lawmaker in the conflict over the credentials of students from New York-based Excelsior College said Monday that there is still room for compromise between the school and the state.

Mr. Perdue's statement, issued late last week, marked a rare public rebuke of the Georgia Board of Nursing, a panel whose members he appoints. The board has said a new law passed by the General Assembly earlier this year bars it from licensing students from Excelsior because the college's programs don't meet "criteria similar to, and not less stringent than, those established by the board," as required by the law.

The college and supporters such as Mr. Perdue dispute that stance.

"This administration has not seen any evidence to suggest that graduates of the schools seeking approval yesterday have posed a threat to public health or safety," Mr. Perdue said. "Further, I do not agree that recent legislation dictated the conclusion reached by the Board yesterday."

House Health and Human Services Committee Chairwoman Sharon Cooper, R-Marietta, said the board is acting exactly as it should under the new law. Ms. Cooper, herself a registered nurse, sponsored the new law.

"What everybody's forgetting in this is patient safety. ... Somehow or other, the patients have gotten lost in all of this," she said.

Ms. Cooper said there is still room for a compromise.

"I think we need to work this out," Ms. Cooper said. "I don't want to close the door on Excelsior."