2023-05-10 17:46:27
Republican lawmakers are managing to inject Christianity into the state’s public schools through a series of bills being debated in the Texas Legislature.
What critics see as an act that undermines the separation of church and state, its proponents argue is a step forward for religious freedom following a major Supreme Court ruling last year.
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“This certainly targets a preferred religion in Texas, and that is deeply concerning,” said Joshua Houston, director of advocacy for the interfaith organization Texas Impact.
On Tuesday, the House of Representatives gave final approval to a bill that would allow chaplains without state certification to work in schools.
Rep. Cole Hefner, R-Mt. Pleasant, said the plan is to give school districts “every tool possible” to combat mental health issues and other forms of crises.
He acknowledged that districts might eventually replace all school counselors with chaplains, and he rejected proposed Democratic amendments to require parental consent and for schools to have a representative from any denomination if requested by a student, teacher, or parent. of family.
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Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, tried to block schools from using public money to pay chaplains.
“We should not use public money to pay for religious services,” Wu argued.
The proposed amendment failed.
The tension evident Monday was similar to that at other legislative hearings on religious matters.
Some believers argue that bringing God into schools would protect them from violence, and that they would reflect founding values.
Opponents counter that non-Christian children might feel left out in public schools.
10 Commandments in schools
Republican Rep. Brad Buckley, chairman of the public education committee, supported a bill to require schools to post Ten Commandments posters in classrooms and another to allow schools to hire chaplains.
When asked whether to put the ten Commandments in classrooms would not offend non-Christian students, Buckley responded that the bill does not call for the teaching of the commandments.
The bill states that the signs must be at least 20 inches tall and 16 inches wide, be posted in every room, and state: “I AM the LORD your God. You will have no other gods besides Me”, as well as the other commandments.
Asked how a teacher should respond if a student asks what it means, Buckley said that would be “a good time for the teacher to contact the child’s parents.”
In addition, the initiative is consistent with the priority that Governor Greg Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick have given to educational options.
The two Republicans are throwing all their political weight behind a plan to channel public money to families to pay tuition for private schools, including religious schools.
Abbott is exclusively using Christian schools to rally support. She has visited at least a dozen in the state, including Denton Calvary Academy in March.
Because right now?
Republican lawmakers behind these initiatives say they see an opportunity following an opinion was issued by the nation’s Supreme Court that upheld a high school football pitcher who prayed on the field following games.
Some other states have launched similar campaigns, such as North Dakota in 2021 with a law that allows the Ten Commandments to be posted in classrooms alongside other historical texts.
Caroline Mala Corbin, a professor at the University of Miami School of Law, said the Texas bill requiring the display of the Ten Commandments is the most problematic in legal terms.
The high court had already found such measures unconstitutional, when in 1980 it held that a Kentucky law requiring the posting of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms was “clearly religious in nature.”
Corbin also noted that there is no single version of the Ten Commandments, and that by choosing to deploy one, lawmakers would be endorsing one religious denomination over another.
Similarly, Corbin said, in a country as diverse as the United States, it may be impossible to provide chaplains for children of every religion, and therefore schools would be endorsing a particular religion.
“The central tenet of the Establishment Clause is that the government should not favor one religion over another, and that it does so to protect religious minorities,” said Corbin, whose study focuses on religion and expression clauses. First Amendment.
Changes in state and local stances on education might also be playing a role.
The bill to bring chaplains to schools, as well as another to allow Bible reading and prayer during the school day, contain an unusual stipulation: School boards would have to vote on whether or not to approve the plan within six months. of passing the law.
This would put political pressure on the board members to make a decision on a prominent and sensitive issue. Voting would likely take place before the next board election cycle.
The State Board of Education also became more conservative following the last election cycle.
Republicans flipped a seat and right-wing candidates replaced more moderate ones.
The law would allow public schools to employ a chaplain to perform various functions in the school and would not require them to be state certified.
Texas has a shortage of qualified mental health professionals to work in schools.
The American School Counselor Association recommends a ratio of 250 students to each counselor.
In Texas, the ratio was 392:1, according to 2021 statistics.
Rep. Diego Bernal, D-San Antonio, asked if it was possible under the law for schools to replace all their counselors and social workers with chaplains.
“I am confident that the schools will make the right decisions on these issues. I don’t think they did that,” Hefner said.
Houston, from the non-religious organization, commented:
“The question lawmakers should ask is simply the rule of thumb: If you were a Muslim chaplain and a Christian child, what would you want the rules to be?”
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