Don’t tell me you care about safety because an asylum seeker committed a crime when you are pushing for dangerous pedophiles to be alone with children.
Republicans seize counselor shortage to push school chaplains
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Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Republican-led states are pushing to allow chaplains in public schools, aiming to address a persistent shortage of counselors.
Why it matters: The youth mental health crisis and an uptick in school shootingshave plagued the education system. But the idea of putting religious figures on school grounds has drawn sharp criticismfor constitutional and safety reasons from civil rights groups, faith groups and chaplains themselves.
- Since Texas introduced its own blueprint last year, allowing schools to use safety funds to hire chaplains who do not have the same licensing as counselors, similar bills have ricocheted across more than a dozen states, including Florida, Georgia, Nebraska, Utah and Kansas.
- In Oklahoma, chaplain bills recently fell apart, though critics warn they might not be gone forever.
- In some states' bills, parental consent is not required, nor is the level of training, expertise and licensing typically required of school counselors.
- "It is not the role of public schools to serve the kids with regard to their religious needs," Holly Hollman, general counsel of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and the daughter of a chaplain, told Axios.
- A counselor typically serves as a career guide who also deals with social/emotional learning, academic struggles, relationships, bullying and harassment.
- Experts recommend schools have counselors, psychologists and social workers. However, the ratio of students to school psychologists was 1,119:1, more than double the recommendation.
- The only requirement is that chaplains pass a background check and allow their name and religious affiliation to be posted on the school's website.
- While the bill's sponsor brushed offobjections, saying chaplains have been in "institutions for centuries," detractors raised concern over the distinctionbetween chaplains being available in a school versus a prison, hospital or military post.
- "We think that that is a violation of the Constitution and goes beyond even the rulings the Supreme Court has issued recently," Nancy Lawther, Florida PTA legislation committee chair, told Axios.
- They point to a 2022 decision in support of a fired Washington football coach who would publicly pray with players after games.
- In its ruling, the Supreme Court said those prayers are constitutional as long as students are not coerced to participate. States argue the same reasoning applies to chaplains providing counseling services.
- The National School Chaplain Association didn't immediately to Axios' request for comment.
- School counseling as a profession has a pipeline problem, with education costs to meet master's degree requirements a major barrier.
