SB 763, which passed in the 2023 Texas legislative session, mandates public school districts in Texas vote by March 1 on whether to adopt a policy to allow chaplains, or clergy, to volunteer or be employed as counselors by districts under Chapter 23 of the Education Code.
A closer look
At the Feb. 5 meeting, trustees noted that while volunteers are always welcome in the district, feedback from community members as to why the policy should not be implemented included:
- Lack of funding provided by the state to hire chaplains
- The burden on administrators to ensure chaplains were not preaching to students
- Majority of area chaplains are Christian, while the district's students are religiously diverse
- Constitutional rights of students and parents
In their own words
“I will definitely support the policy committee's recommendation to decline ... I would much rather spend the money as the money is available for counselors,” trustee Rick Garcia said in the Feb. 5 meeting.
Also during that meeting, trustee David Hamilton said the district was not declining volunteer assistance from clergy members; however, he said he believed an official title or capacity was too problematic to be considered.
“We do welcome people to volunteer from all faith backgrounds, and there's kind of a line in the sand as far as what you can do while you're at school. But up to a certain extent, if you want to consider yourself a chaplain, who is volunteering at our campus, from our perspective, you will be viewed as a volunteer,” Hamilton said.
What else
FBISD joins other Houston-area school districts that also declined adopting the policy, including Katy ISD, Cy-Fair ISD and Lamar Consolidated ISD.
The only member who did not comment in either the Feb. 5 or Feb. 26 meetings regarding the bill was trustee Sonya Jones, who was also the lone dissenting vote.
