Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill into law Tuesday mandating CPR training in every school health course between grades seven and 12 by the 2017-2018 school year.
According to the regulations, all schools, including charter and private schools, must offer “instruction in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and cardiocerebral resuscitation in any health education course” and “instruction about automated external defibrillators.”
“Over 1,000 people suffer from cardiac arrest in the United States every day and very few citizens are trained to respond and help in these situations,” Gov. Walker said, according to a press release. “This legislation gives our students the training they need to offer aid and potentially save lives” in order to comply.
The bill does not mention whether or not funding will be provided by the state to assist schools in adhering to the mandate.
Gov. Walker has a rocky relationship with many public-sector workers in Wisconsin after passing his anti-union law in 2011, which crippled most unions and caused many across the state to lose benefits and take-home pay. It remains to be seen whether this will add expenses to school budgets how that would go over with educators.
According to the American Heart Association, Wisconsin is the 30th state to implement legislation requiring CPR training in school. (A full list is here.)
Anyone interested in becoming CPR certified can register for classes through the American Heart Association.
Photo: U.S. Coast Guard Health Services Technician Mallory Jackson, left, shows students from Dr. Robert B. Ingram Elementary School in Opa-Locka, Fla., different procedures that can be practiced on a CPR mannequin, during an open house event last year at a Coast Guard Air Station Miami. —Wilfredo Lee/AP-File