Despite backlash from dozens of civil rights organizations, the Florida Legislature on Thursday passed a bill to allow volunteer chaplains with limited qualifications to go into public schools and provide unspecified support and services to students.
The Senate approved the bill on Thursday along party lines and the House passed it earlier. The legislation now heads to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk for his consideration.
Florida’s volunteer chaplain bill, HB 931, and similar ones in at least a dozen states received a scathing letter from groups such as the ACLU, Interfaith Alliance and National Education Association. In the letter sent to state legislators on Wednesday, the civil rights groups called the chaplain bills unconstitutional on grounds that they would carve a path for religious indoctrination.
Now, the ACLU of Florida is urging DeSantis to veto the bill.
Kara Gross, ACLU
“Allowing chaplains to provide counseling and other support services in public schools would violate students’ and families’ religious-freedom rights by exposing all public school students to the risk of chaplains evangelizing them or imposing religion on them throughout their school day,” Kara Gross, legislative director and senior policy counsel at the ACLU of Florida wrote in a statement following the passage of the bill.
She wrote that the bill creates a “significant risk of liability for school districts that will inevitably be picking and choosing which chaplains from which religions to approve or reject in their schools. The First Amendment protects the right of all students to attend public schools without the risk of religious indoctrination by government-approved chaplains. We urge the governor to veto this bill immediately.”
The legislation doesn’t outline qualifications for the volunteer chaplains other than passing a background check. In the House, the bill received some bipartisan support when it passed on Feb. 22. Five Democrats voted for it and Democratic Rep. Kimberly Daniels of Duval County co-sponsored it.
Freedom of religion and separation of church and state
If DeSantis signs the bill, school districts could decide whether to establish programs for the volunteer chaplains, how those programs would work, and if they would have any additional requirements. Additionally, parents would have to give written consent before their kids meet with chaplains.
Erin Grall. Credit: Florida Senate
“It does surprise me about the controversy because we’ve had chaplains in our public institutions for centuries. They have existed long before the formation of the United States,” said Republican Sen. Erin Grall, who is the Senate sponsor of the bill. “Chaplaincy is something that we all have probably had individual and unique experiences with as well. There’s so many different ways in which somebody can train; so many different ways in which somebody can become qualified to be a chaplain. What we didn’t want to do in this legislation was be so prescriptive so as to pick the right way to do it.”
Similarly to the arguments in the civil rights groups’ letter, some Democratic senators raised concerns about establishing religion in public schools.
“It seems like every year we keep chipping away at the separation of church and state. And I have to tell you, many of you are quite religious, and you use that to guide your voting and your principles and your bill proposals. That’s fine. But the minute that you try to put your religion upon other people, that’s when it becomes a problem,” said Democratic Sen. Tina Polsky of Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Chaplains in the public sectors
Lawmakers in favor of the bill said it is legally sound because anyone from any or no religion could be a volunteer chaplain as long as they pass the background check. Imposing any other requirements could potentially be discriminatory, said Grall, who represents Glades, Highlands, Indian River and Okeechobee counties and part of St. Lucie County.
“In some of these other states that have been prescriptive, they have chosen specific religions; they have chosen specific types of training. We don’t do that on purpose, acknowledging the freedom of religion that we have,” she said.
In the letter, the civil rights groups argued that the instances in which chaplains are allowed such as the military prisons and jails, hospitals and legislatures do not apply to public school students.
“Public school students have unfettered access to religious services in their communities and through their families. They do not need chaplains, selected and imposed by the government, to practice their faith,” the groups wrote.
An alternative to mental health services
Although the passage of the Florida bill follows the enactment of similar legislation in Texas last year allowing schools to pay for chaplains to work in mental health roles, HB 931 does not explicitly state that chaplains would address mental health problems. However, the Senate sponsor of the bill, Republican Grall, has said chaplains could serve as an alternative for students dealing with mental health problems.
“I just get frustrated when we talk about you know, we should treat all religions the same by excluding all religion from schools. We provide so many wraparound services to our children in school,” she said. “We talk about it here every year: The access to mental health services … and this is merely adding an option that has the utmost transparency.”
School districts would have to publish on their websites a list with the names of the volunteer chaplains and their religious affiliations if they have any. Republican Sen. Danny Burgess of Hillsborough and Pasco counties defended the abilities of chaplains compared to counselors.
“It seemed that there was just an automatic assumption that the chaplain would be wrong and that a counselor would always be right, and I believe that sometimes the issue is with the soul and not of the mind,” he said. “That’s why I believe that this is a good option for our students in today’s day and age.”
State Sen. Lori Berman, D-Palm Beach.
Allowing chaplains to handle emotional and mental health problems students face could harm kids, said Palm Beach County Democratic Sen. Lori Berman.
“I’m worried that we’re going to cause real psychological damage to these children because we’re putting everybody in this kind of situation where they don’t know what the qualifications are,” she said. “I think we’re kind of doing it because we don’t want to take the step that we should be taking, which is to be hiring more guidance counselors, hiring more social workers, hiring more school psychologists.”
When it comes to student-support roles, the lack of requirements in most bills seeking to bring chaplains to public schools demonstrates a preference for religion, according to the letter from civil rights organizations. The groups say that violates the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits the government from establishing a religion.
“In specially designating chaplains for critical student-support roles, and exempting them from the training and certification requirements that apply to school counselors, teachers, and other educational professionals, these bills violate the Establishment Clause in another way: They result in an unconstitutional preference for religion over nonreligion,” the civil rights letter states. “And the danger here goes beyond the constitutional violation. In relying on uncertified, unqualified clergy to perform student-support duties, such as counseling, schools risk students receiving inadequate or inappropriate care and could be held liable for this negligence.”
The post Lawmakers OK volunteer chaplains in public schools; civil rights groups say it’s unconstitutional appeared first on Florida Phoenix.
This article originally appeared here and was republished with permission.
