The Senate is seeking to resolve the burning question of how to bring spiritual counsel to secular classrooms with a volunteer chaplain proposal teed up for a vote.
HB 931 and SB 1044 would "authorize volunteer school chaplains to provide supports, services, and programs to students as assigned by the district school board or charter school governing board," with districts implementing the chaplain proposal at their discretion.
Boards would have to determine to which programs and services chaplains would be assigned, would have to inform parents that chaplains be informed, and would have to get parental consent before chaplains interacted with students.
"Parents must be permitted to select a volunteer school chaplain from the list provided by the school district, which must include the chaplain's religious affiliation, if any," the bill reads, noting that the list must be published on the district website.
Sponsoring Sen. Erin Grall substituted the House product, passed by an 89-25 vote last week, for her own bill, moving a bill she said was "exactly the same" as the Senate iteration.
Democrats had questions and concerns about the bill, which did not get a vote in the Senate on Wednesday morning.
Sen. Lori Berman wondered if there was any "training" for chaplains, and if the sponsor was worried that a lack of standards could lead to chaplains psychologically harming the students. Grall had no worries along those lines given Level 2 background screening for the volunteer chaplains.
Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book wondered if the bill permits "religious rites," and the sponsor said the bill did not speak to that specifically.
Asked about whether Santeria rites such as animal sacrifice would be permitted, Grall said she didn't know if a school district would allow that or not, but parents would have to consent after doing "their research," but that animal sacrifice would likely be "outside the scope of chaplaincy."
The League of Women Voters, the Democratic Women's Club and the Council of Florida Churches opposed the bill in committee, while a representative of the Christian Family Coalition lauded the legislation, meanwhile, given that schools are "spiritual battlegrounds."
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