The latest conservative gimmick to reform and improve public schools is to allow them to have chaplains. Previous to this it was having kids wear uniforms, banning cell phones, posting the Ten Commandments, teaching the Bible, bringing back prayer and Bible reading, and arming teachers.
In my state of Florida, HB 931 was passed by the Republican-controlled legislature in March and recently signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis. The bill
authorizes school districts & charter schools to adopt policy to allow volunteer school chaplains; requires district school boards & charter school governing boards to assign specified duties to such volunteer school chaplains; requires volunteer school chaplains to meet certain background screening requirements; requires school districts and charter schools to publish specified information under certain circumstances.
The law took effect on July 1.
Florida thus joins Louisiana and Texas in passing laws that empower public schools to employ or accept volunteer chaplains.
Chaplain bills have been considered or passed in at least 15 states. There is a bill pending right now in the Oklahoma legislature that would permit school districts to employ or accept volunteer chaplains:
SB 36, as amended, authorizes school districts to hire or accept volunteer chaplains to provide services and programs for students. Chaplains are not required to be certified by the State Department of Education but must have completed a bachelor’s degree, a graduate degree in religious studies, and the basic theological education for their denomination or faith tradition. Chaplains must also have an endorsement from their faith group. Prospective chaplains must undergo background checks and must not have certain criminal convictions related to sexual offenses or felonies. Chaplains may be dismissed for child abuse, neglect, or any reason in which their presence could lead to harm. Students may choose to seek support from a chaplain, and no student can be required to do so.
Having chaplains in public schools is a dumb idea.
First of all, what kind of chaplains are you going to have? In our pluralistic society, no school will be able to exclude a Buddhist chaplain, a Hindu chaplain, a Muslim chaplain, a Jewish chaplain, or even a Satanic Temple chaplain without being sued. Millions of taxpayer dollars will then be wasted fighting these lawsuits. Conservative Christians who want to put their brand of chaplain in public schools may end up with a Muslim imam in their local public school.
Second, having chaplains in public schools won’t affect in any way the indoctrination of students in evolution, climate change, free love, socialism, homosexuality, or transgenderism—things that are abhorrent to conservative Christians and should want to make them remove their children from public schools.
Third, public schools are government schools. They may be state government schools and not national government schools, but they are still government schools. Public schools should not exist. All schools should be private schools just like everything else should be private.
And fourth, conservative Christians should be fleeing public schools as they would a sinking ship or an approaching hurricane and not wasting their time trying to reform or improve them.
But don’t we have chaplains in the military? Yes, and what do they do? They marry same-sex couples and ask God to bless the troops before they bomb, maim, destroy, and make widows and orphans. Get rid of the military chaplains as well. And as for other government agencies, forget the chaplains and abolish the agencies.
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