Chaplains in public schools? Ohio Republicans propose letting clergy counsel students

Schools across the country are facing shortfalls of mental health professionals, and Republicans have a potentially no-cost solution: Letting districts use volunteer chaplains.

In Ohio, GOP lawmakers have introduced House Bill 240, which would allow schools to employ or recruit volunteer religious leaders "to provide support, services and programs for students."

"Whatever works that’s ethical should be available," Rep. Gary Click, R-Vickery, said.

But Democrats, teachers' unions and LGBTQ groups worry the bill's "vague language" could open a backdoor to controversial religious beliefs like conversion therapy or get in the way of "scientifically proven treatments" for mental health problems.

"One thing that is particularly crucial here is there are no limits whatsoever on the proselytization to students," American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio's chief lobbyist Gary Daniels said. "These people could be unlicensed to do this professionally and have no limits on what they say or how they interact with children in school."

Taking a page from Texas

In June, Texas became the first state in the country to permit its public schools to hire chaplains. The bill's sponsor, Texas state Rep. Cole Hefner, told reporters the Lone Star State needed to give "school districts every tool that we can in the toolbox with all that we’ve been experiencing with mental health issues and catastrophes and crises."

Democrats there tried and failed to add amendments requiring parental consent, a ban on proselytizing and accreditation requirements like the ones for chaplains who work in prisons or the U.S. military.

And Ohio's HB 240 is nearly identical.

The key difference between what's being proposed here versus the Texas law is that Ohio wouldn't allow districts to substitute unlicensed chaplains for certified mental health professionals. HB 240 states, "chaplain services may be offered in addition to, but not in lieu of, school counselor services."

What the bill would do is permit chaplains to serve in public, STEM and charter schools after they passed a background check. It doesn't specify any additional requirements or limits to the scope of their practices. Those decisions would be left to local districts.

"I think the local schools, they know the clergy. They’re not going to bring someone in who is going to be harmful to the kids or not qualified," Click said. "I think we need to trust our educators to use their judgment."

Click, who has worked as a police and hospice chaplain, said he views that role as a support provider. "You’re not going there to bring people into your church. That should not be your purpose as a chaplain."

But LGBTQ groups worry that without clear guidelines, religious leaders could stray into territory that not only crosses First Amendment lines but inflicts real harm onto students who already feel marginalized by their communities.

"I totally support the right of any parent to say we want to involve our religion in this process, but that should be separate from what we offer in public school," said Ben Huelskamp, executive director of the Christian nonprofit LOVEboldy. "In my opinion, what we are really seeing is an attempt to put Christian ministers into schools."

Huelskamp pointed to those defeated amendments in Texas as proof and said he worried it could become a way to sneak culture war legislation into schools without having to pass laws.

"If we were able to ban conversion therapy in Ohio, the law wouldn't apply to these chaplains and you could send all your transgender students to a chaplain for counseling," he said. "(HB) 240 has the ability to re-introduce all the bad parts of those bills in this backdoor way through these unlicensed chaplains."

Ohio needs more mental health counselors

The American School Counselor Association recommends one counselor for every 250 students, but only two states, Vermont and New Hampshire, met that criterion in 2022.

Ohio has one counselor for every 403 students on average, according to data compiled by youth mental health provider Charlie Health.

"I think it's been an issue, but the pandemic really put a spotlight on it," Ohio Education Association President Scott DiMauro said. "There are a lot of mental health needs that were exacerbated, and Ohio now has a very serious and growing need for mental health supports for students and staff."

But that doesn't mean DiMauro thinks anyone can step into those roles. OEA, which is one of Ohio's largest teacher's unions, is pushing for more "licensed counselors, social workers, nurses and other professionals to help support the nonacademic needs of students in our schools."

"I think we want to hear more about the details of what is going on here," DiMauro said. "We don't want this to create an excuse for further shortcuts...The answer is not to lower professional standards, the solution is to hire more qualified people and compensate them appropriately."

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Click agreed that Ohio could better support its students, but he didn't see HB 240 as a hindrance to that goal. He used to share an office with a social worker and said the two roles were "different, but we can be complimentary."

"It seems like there is just an animosity sometimes toward people of faith," he said.

DiMauro thought there was a bigger-picture question Ohioans should be asking.

"Even more fundamentally the question is: Is this something that we really need in Ohio," DiMauro said. "I'm not sure this approach solves any problem, but it does open up all kinds of questions."

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Anna Staver is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Republican bill would let unlicensed chaplains in public schools