A new state law goes into effect this Friday that would allow school districts to replace counselors with chaplains.
The state senator from the Galveston area who authored the bill posted online, shortly after it passed back in the spring, that it “will allow the important role chaplains serve for pastoral care and representing God’s presence within our public schools.”
The law does not require school districts to employ chaplains; instead, it requires that school boards take a vote before March 1, 2024, on whether they will adopt a chaplain program to “provide support, services, and programs for students.”
There has been an organized and growing opposition to the effort to put chaplains in schools.
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Last week, over 100 Texas chaplains issued an open letter to all Texas school board members urging them to reject the chaplain program.
“It is harmful to our public schools and the students and families they serve,” the letter reads.
Among the many points of contention that the clergy raises – there is no requirement in the new law that specifies the qualifications or standards for someone to serve as a chaplain for a school district.
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“This is just anybody getting the equivalent of an online certificate so they can do their friend’s wedding in the backyard,” said Bee Moorhead, Executive Director of Texas Impact, an advocacy organization that represents several of the clergy who signed the open letter.
“The reason nobody in our constituency likes this chaplain proposal is that it is disrespectful of all the faith traditions that participate,” Moorhead said, about the lack of qualifications in the bill. “I don’t think this is one faith against another faith, or one faith feeling particularly threatened. This is all of them saying this is equally a problem for all of us.”
