Six States, One School Year: The 2026-27 Cardiac Emergency Plan Checklist

On 18 August 2026, KSAT 12 in San Antonio published an investigation into which local school districts actually have a cardiac emergency response plan. The answer: six of fifteen. Nine do not, several of them still drafting, and every one of them opened its doors to students this month.

It is tempting to file that as a Texas story. It is not. Six states have new school cardiac requirements landing on the 2026-27 school year, and the pattern KSAT found — a statute on the books, a plan not yet written — is the same pattern we see when we walk a district's buildings anywhere in the country.

This article is the compliance picture as it actually stands for this school year, followed by the audit that matters more than the paperwork.

What KSAT found, and one citation to get right

KSAT surveyed districts across the Bexar County area. Six reported a cardiac emergency response plan in place: Alamo Heights, East Central, North East, Somerset, South San Antonio and Southside ISDs. Nine reported no plan, including San Antonio ISD, Comal ISD, Judson ISD, Medina Valley ISD, Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD and Southwest ISD, with several describing plans still in development.

Dr. David Bush, a pediatric cardiologist interviewed for the piece, made the point that should drive every placement decision a district makes: "The coaches are going to be the first ones to see a child go down." Children who arrest outside a hospital survive less than 30 percent of the time, and as Dr. Bush put it, the single predictor of whether they survive is how fast basic life support reaches them.

The six states with requirements on this school year

Two Pennsylvania dates are worth putting in a calendar now: AED inventory reporting to the Department of Education begins 30 June 2027, and full compliance is due 13 May 2029. A district that treats Greg Moyer's Law as a one-time purchase will be caught out by the reporting requirement; what the statute actually asks for is an inventory you can produce on demand.

And three states already scheduled beyond it

• Texas — SB 865 plans must be operational by the first instructional day of the 2027-28 school year. That is the deadline the KSAT story is measuring districts against, and it is why "still developing" is not yet non-compliance — but it is also why the nine districts without plans have one budget cycle, not three, to get there.
• Oregon — HB 4160 (2026), Chapter 72, takes effect 1 July 2027: cardiac emergency plans including working, easily accessible AEDs, and coach AED training.
• Virginia — SB 87 (2026), Chapter 481, takes effect 1 July 2028, requiring operational AEDs at local government sporting facilities with minimum counts scaled to facility size and attendance, marked, maintained, registered with local EMS.

Worth saying plainly: a mandate is not a budget. Michigan's cardiac emergency response requirement has applied since the 2025-26 school year and, as of February 2026, remained unfunded, with the state's requested appropriation absent from the budget. If you are in Michigan, the compliance obligation is real and the money is not.

Florida's outlier: screening rather than response

One more 2026 change worth knowing, because it gets confused with the AED laws. Florida's Second Chance Act, effective 1 July 2026, requires an ECG for athletes in grades 9 through 12 before their first competition — the first such statewide mandate in the country. It is named for Chance Gainer, who died of sudden cardiac arrest during a football game in September 2024.

Screening and response are complements, not substitutes. An ECG can find a condition before it kills someone; it cannot help the athlete whose arrest was never going to be predicted. Florida districts still need the plan, the device and the trained coach.

The audit that matters more than the plan

Here is the pattern we see when districts move from statute to practice: writing the plan is the easy part. The plan gets filed. Then summer happens — construction, room reassignments, a new athletic director, a cabinet relocated during a gym refit — and the plan describes a building that no longer exists.

Five failure points, in the order we find them:

1. Expired pads. The single most common finding. Pads have a shelf life of roughly two to five years depending on model, and the expiry is on the pad, not the device.
2. Aging or dead batteries. A ready light that has been out for a month is a device that will not deliver a shock. Texas SB 1177 exists precisely because nobody was checking.
3. Locked or relocated cabinets. An AED in a front office that closes at 3 p.m. is a device with business hours. Evening practice, weekend tournaments and rec-league use are exactly when arrests happen on school property.
4. No signage. The cheapest line item in the whole program and the one most often missing. If a visiting coach cannot find it, it is not accessible.
5. No drill on record. Several of these statutes require drills and annual review, not just a document. A plan nobody has rehearsed is a plan nobody will execute.

How to run the three-minute test

Utah's statute puts a number on it — an AED reachable within three minutes — and it is a good standard whether or not your state names it. Do not measure it from the front office at noon on a Tuesday. Measure it from the worst place at the worst time:

• The far end of the practice field, at the far goal line, with the gates in whatever state they are actually in at 6 p.m.
• The visiting-side bleachers, which is where a spectator arrest will happen and where nobody knows the building.
• The natatorium or pool deck, where the responder is wet, barefoot and cannot leave the water unattended.
• The bus loop and the far parking lot, after the building is locked.
• The auxiliary gym and the weight room, which are frequently the last spaces to get a device.

Walk it at a fast walk, not a run — that is what a person carrying a device will actually manage. If any of those routes runs past three minutes round trip, you do not have a paperwork problem. You have a placement problem, and the fix is a second device rather than a rewritten plan. Our guide to AED placement, coverage and distance works through the geometry, and cabinet and mounting requirements covers the ADA reach and protrusion limits that decide where a cabinet can legally go.

Who has to be certified

This is where the statutes diverge most, and where districts get caught assuming their neighbouring state's rule applies. Pennsylvania names nurses, coaches, PE teachers, athletic trainers and marching band directors. Texas SB 865 names nurses, coaches, PE teachers, band and cheer directors, and student athletic trainers. Utah requires designated staff trained in CPR and AED use. Oregon's 2027 requirement reaches coaches specifically.

Read your own statute for the list, then check it against your actual roster — including the people who supervise activities nobody thinks of as athletics. Marching band practices outdoors in August heat. Cheer practises in an auxiliary gym. Both appear in these statutes for a reason.

The money that exists right now

September through November is when districts identify unspent funds and set next year's line items, and this year there is money specifically attached to AEDs:

• North Carolina — $4 million appropriated in the state budget alongside the Smart Heart Act.
• Utah — a $200,000 grant pool, first come first served, prioritising Title I schools. First-come means the schools that apply in September get it and the ones that wait for spring do not.
• Texas — $5 million attached to SB 865.

If you need a budget justification a business manager will approve, the strongest version is not a compliance threat. It is the placement map with the three-minute test results on it, showing exactly which spaces are uncovered and what the gap costs to close.

Frequently asked questions

Which states have new school AED or cardiac emergency plan requirements for 2026-27?

South Carolina, Utah, Maine, North Carolina, New Mexico and Pennsylvania all have requirements in force for the 2026-27 school year. Texas, Oregon and Virginia have requirements scheduled for 2027-28, 2027 and 2028 respectively.

What is a cardiac emergency response plan?

A written plan naming the cardiac emergency response team and their roles, the location of every AED, how 911 is called and how EMS is met and directed, and how often the plan is drilled and reviewed. Most of the 2026 statutes reference American Heart Association standards for its contents.

How close does an AED have to be?

Utah's statute specifies an AED reachable within three minutes, and three minutes is the working standard used in the resuscitation literature whether or not a state names it. Measure round-trip travel time from the furthest point of each space at the hour the space is actually used.

Is the Texas school AED law SB 1177 or SB 865?

Both exist and they do different things. SB 865, the Landon Payton Act, is the cardiac emergency response plan mandate, with plans operational by the first instructional day of the 2027-28 school year. SB 1177 requires school fire-safety inspectors to verify AED pads, battery and ready status. Both took effect 1 September 2025.

Is there funding available for school AEDs?

Yes in several states. North Carolina appropriated $4 million, Texas $5 million, and Utah created a $200,000 first-come grant pool prioritising Title I schools. Michigan's mandate, by contrast, remained unfunded as of February 2026.

Sources

• KSAT 12, "'That is scary': Most Bexar County area school districts don't have cardiac emergency response plans," 18 August 2026 — ksat.com
• South Carolina H.3831 / Act 108 — scstatehouse.gov
• Utah S.B. 244 — le.utah.gov
• Maine LD 587, effective 29 July 2026 — mainesenate.org
• American Heart Association, North Carolina Smart Heart Act, 10 July 2026 — newsroom.heart.org
• American Heart Association, New Mexico HB 256, 13 March 2026 — newsroom.heart.org
• Pennsylvania Senate Republicans, Greg Moyer's Law in effect, 26 May 2026 — pasenategop.com
• Texas SB 865 (89R) bill analysis — capitol.texas.gov; SB 1177 (89R) — capitol.texas.gov
• Oregon HB 4160 (2026), Chapter 72 — legiscan.com
• Virginia SB 87 (2026), Chapter 481 — lis.virginia.gov
• Bridge Michigan, Michigan mandate unfunded, 18 February 2026 — bridgemi.com
• WWSB, Florida Second Chance Act ECG requirement, 10 August 2026 — mysuncoast.com

Related

• AED requirements for schools
• AED laws & compliance — 50-state guide
• Where to place an AED: coverage & distance
• AED pads & batteries by model

Last reviewed: 20 August 2026. This article summarises publicly reported statutory requirements and is not legal advice. Confirm your obligations with your district's counsel or your state education agency, as effective dates and applicability can turn on details specific to your school type and enrolment.