Senate panel debates requiring school cardiac emergency response plans and AEDs

The Senate Education Committee heard several hours of testimony May 7 on proposed language that would require schools to adopt cardiac emergency response plans and athletic emergency action plans and whether that requirement should be part of the state'mandated emergency operations plans (EOPs).

Agency of Education staff told the committee the state already requires comprehensive emergency operations plans under Act 29 of 2023 and a living statewide template that school districts and independent schools must follow. An Agency representative said, "School emergency operation plans reflect a number of life saving emergency protocols, which include but are not limited to cardiac and related events." The agency urged embedding any cardiac-specific language into the existing EOP template rather than creating a separate, potentially duplicative statutory requirement.

That position met pushback from advocates and some committee members who said a statutory requirement is necessary to ensure consistent planning, AED placement and routine training. Tina Zuk, described in the hearing as a…