Establishing the school health-related emergency response plan competitive grant program within the department of education, making appropriations, and including applicability provisions

This bill establishes the school health-related emergency response plan competitive grant program within the department of education (DE). The bill defines “athletic emergency action plan” as written guidelines and templates for the documentation of emergency planning to help prepare individuals for a catastrophic injury situation that occurs during physical education or an extracurricular athletic activity or contest. The bill defines “automated external defibrillator” as a lightweight, portable device that delivers an electric shock through the chest to the heart to stop an irregular heartbeat and allow normal heartbeat rhythm to resume following cardiac arrest. The bill also defines “cardiac emergency response plan” to mean a written document that establishes the specific steps to be taken by employees or contractors of a school to respond to incidents involving an individual experiencing cardiac arrest or a similar life-threatening emergency on school property, during physical education, during an extracurricular athletic activity or contest, during practice associated with an extracurricular athletic activity or contest, or during a school-sponsored activity, and to reduce the likelihood of the individual’s death from cardiac arrest or a similar life-threatening emergency, and that integrates core elements of guidance adopted by the American heart association. Additionally, the bill defines “school” as a school district, accredited nonpublic school, charter school, or innovation zone school. The bill provides that if the general assembly appropriates moneys to the school health-related emergency response plan competitive grant program fund, DE is required to develop and administer a school health-related emergency response plan competitive grant program to provide grants to schools to offset the costs associated with the school’s development and implementation of a cardiac emergency response plan that satisfies the requirements established in the bill. The state board of education is required to adopt rules to administer the school health-related emergency response plan competitive grant program. The bill provides that moneys awarded under the school health-related emergency response plan competitive grant program shall be used to supplement, not supplant, existing public funding used by a school district for similar purposes. The bill applies to school years beginning on or after July 1, 2026.