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Kansas education committee hears update on cardiac emergency response plans; KDHE posts standards, schools must file plans by July 31
Summary
Officials from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the American Heart Association briefed the House Committee on Education on statewide cardiac emergency response plan (SERP) standards, AED placement and maintenance questions, the nascent CARES registry, and funding gaps including replacement parts and registry licensing.
Members of the Kansas House Committee on Education on Thursday heard an update on statewide cardiac emergency response plans and related requirements from Lainie Faulkner of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and Carrie Rinker of the American Heart Association.
The committee was told KSA 72-6288 directs the secretary of health and environment to develop statewide standards for cardiac emergency response plans and requires each local board of education to adopt a comprehensive plan for every attendance center based on those standards. Lainie Faulkner, director of the Bureau of Health Promotion at KDHE, said the SERP standards and supporting templates are published on a KDHE website and that districts must submit their first plans by July 31. "So far, we have received two cert plans, and we will expect to see that number continue to rise," Faulkner said.
Why it matters: immediate CPR and use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) markedly improve survival from sudden cardiac arrest. Testimony cited American Heart Association figures showing survival rises substantially when bystanders perform CPR and an AED is used.
Key details presented to the committee
- Statutory scope: Faulkner summarized KSA 72-6288, which requires boards to adopt plans addressing formation of a response team, AED placement and maintenance, roles for school staff, local law enforcement and EMS, rehearsals/simulations and procedures for off-site school events.
- KDHE implementation: KDHE has posted standards, templates and links to training resources and created a dedicated email for plan submissions and technical questions. The agency is fielding roughly one to two inquiries per week and is not auditing each plan; local districts retain control so long as statutory requirements are met.
- Training and certification: KDHE told the committee that the standards require training but do not mandate certification for every staff member; districts may decide whether staff should be fully certified. "We do not require certification true certification. They just need to take the training," Faulkner said.
- Data and registry: KDHE is developing a CARES registry (Cardiac Arrest Registry for Enhanced Survival) to collect cardiac arrest data in Kansas, but that effort is in early stages and will require funding for licensing and staffing. Committee members were told the CARES licensing fee is about $17,000.
- Costs and funding gaps: Committee members raised costs for devices and upkeep. Committee testimony gave these example figures: AED devices about $1,500 each (district purchases cited a per-unit figure near $1,640 including batteries and pads), pediatric electrode pads commonly expire every two years and can cost roughly $150–$310 per set, adult pads around $100, and battery replacement and device licensing vary by brand. Witnesses said the Safe and Secure Schools grant was amended last year to allow AEDs as an allowable expense but that no additional funds were added specifically for AEDs or replacement parts; the proviso language was later affected by a line-item veto and remains a funding question.
- American Heart Association priorities: Carrie Rinker of the American Heart Association asked the committee to consider funding for CPR training kits to support school health-education curricula and cited a suggested appropriation of $250,000 to buy kits. She said a training kit costs approximately $725 and argued training in schools creates a broader community of potential lifesavers.
Committee responses and next steps
Committee members pressed on who pays for devices and upkeep and whether there are penalties for noncompliance; KDHE said there is no penalty tied to failing to purchase devices but the agency will track plan submissions. Gabby Holt, legislative coordinator at the Kansas State Department of Education, said the Safe and Secure Schools grant is administered by KSDE and grant awards have been prorated across applicants rather than prioritized by district size; Holt said she would provide the committee with the number of districts that requested AED funding and the amounts requested.
KDHE told the committee it will return with additional information on per-district cost estimates, the CARES licensing funding plan, and other clarifications in a subsequent session. Committee members also expressed interest in whether replacement parts and device licensing could be explicitly eligible grant expenses.
Ending
The committee did not take formal action on any motion during the session. KDHE and interested stakeholders left the committee with action items: compile a statewide inventory estimate, provide detailed cost and maintenance estimates (including pad and battery replacement cycles and licensing/prescription requirements), and outline options for CARES registry funding to report back to the committee when requested.
