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House approves education bill requiring AED inventory report and extends dyslexia board to 2032
Summary
Senate File 2474 passed the House unanimously. The bill extends the Iowa Dyslexia Board's sunset to 2032 and directs the Department of Education to report on school cardiac emergency response plans and AED locations and whether devices are in working order.
The House unanimously passed Senate File 2474, which extends the Iowa Dyslexia Board's repeal date and directs the Iowa Department of Education to report on cardiac emergency response plans and the locations and working status of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in school buildings.
Representative Pope opened the discussion, saying the bill directs the Department of Education to identify the number of schools with cardiac emergency response plans and the number and location of AEDs in each school building. "This bill gets us those answers," he said, arguing that readiness and an accessible, working AED can determine whether a child survives a sudden cardiac arrest.
Amendments included H8402 (Weldon), which extended the dyslexia board’s repeal date to July 1, 2032, and H8441 (Walden), which removed a filing requirement for nonpublic schools while adding a requirement that schools report whether each AED is in good working order. Both amendments were adopted. The bill was read for final passage; the recorded vote was 85 yeas, 0 nays, 15 absent and it passed the House.
Supporters cited a recent case in Glenwood where quick response and an AED saved a 16-year-old's life as the rationale for gathering statewide data to improve readiness and response.
Next steps: The House ordered the bill messaged to the Senate.
