PARTNER PERSPECTIVE

Saying No to Faith-Based Chaplains in Public Schools

Darcy Hirsh
Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy, Interfaith Alliance

For anyone looking for an example of the concerted effort to instill Christian nationalist ideology within our nation’s democratic institutions, and particularly in our public schools, one need look no further than a series of bills introduced during the 2023 session of the Texas Legislature. Two bills which directly sought to infuse religion into public schools failed - one concerning school prayer and one requiring classrooms to display the Ten Commandments. However, a bill that would place chaplains in public and charter schools to offer faith-based services passed the Senate and then the House, largely under the public’s radar even as the other two bills made the headlines.

Senate Bill No. 763, the school chaplain bill, was signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott on June 18th, 2023. Supporters heralded the legislation as a solution to the critical need for additional mental health support in schools throughout the state. But in reality, the bill was championed by an alliance of conservative lawmakers and Christian nationalist activist groups, including the National School Chaplains Association, which seeks to place chaplains “readied with a Biblical perspective” into public schools for duties including “​​prayer, counsel, and spiritual care for the school staff, the students, and their families.” The bill’s Senate lead, Senator Mayes Middleton, dispelled any doubt about the proposal’s true intention, insisting during debate that the separation of church and state is “not a real doctrine.”

The new law requires each of the over 1,200 Texas school districts to vote between September 2023 and March 2024 whether to employ chaplains as volunteers or hire them in place of school counselors – and it is problematic in multiple respects. Under this new law, chaplains could serve as students’ first point of contact for mental health support even though they are not required to have any type of formal training or certification. There is no requirement that the chaplains refrain from proselytizing while at schools or that they serve students from all religious backgrounds, nor does the law require any specific training, certification, or other qualifications.

Every student should feel welcome in public schools. The Establishment Clause is meant to protect against state-funded endorsement of religion and proselytization of students by public school employees. Both could well occur as a result of this law. By endorsing a specific religious viewpoint and using state institutions and funds to do so, the Texas school chaplains law infringes on the religious freedom of students, parents, and educators.

Further, since the law provides for chaplain salaries to be drawn from funds designated “to improve school safety and security,” employing chaplains would draw from critical and limited funds used to protect students’ safety and well-being. Specifically, the funds in question are directed at – but not limited to – the roles of restorative discipline and justice practices, mental and behavioral health support, and suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention. Chaplains are not required to be trained in these duties and are accordingly unqualified to provide these important services, which should be provided by trained professionals.

In the summer of 2023, Interfaith Alliance was proud to stand up a diverse coalition, together with American Atheists, of other national and Texas-based civil rights, faith, secular, and professional organizations to launch a grassroots advocacy strategy opposing the implementation of this law. The goal of our initiative is to educate parents, students, faith communities, educators, and other advocates and engage them in urging school boards to reject this harmful policy. One particularly successful strategy was to engage faith leaders in speaking out against the law in the press, in testimony to school boards, and with a letter that garnered over 170 chaplain signatures. We have already seen some successes with school boards voting down the measure, including a large district outside of Dallas that specifically cited the chaplain letter as an integral factor, and we will continue our advocacy in Texas through March. At the same time, we will broaden our advocacy efforts nationwide in anticipation of other states replicating this dangerous law. This has already been proposed in Ohio, as a state representative filed legislation last summer proposing to allow Ohio’s public school districts to employ chaplains.