Facing counselor shortage, Indiana public schools may soon be able to use chaplains instead

Chaplains may soon be allowed to counsel children in Indiana public schools under a new Senate Bill that would allow school districts to hire clergy.

Senate Bill 50, authored by Sen. Stacy Donato, R-Logansport, moved through the Senate’s education committee Wednesday with a 9-4 vote.

Donato's bill would allow public school districts and charter schools to have a chaplain, or certified clergy member, on staff who could provide religious support to students so long as permission is granted by the student and/or their parents. Parents could also give permission for the chaplains to act as counselors and provide secular or non-religious support.

As of 2021-22, Indiana had a student-to-counselor ratio of 694 to 1 while the American School Counselor Association's recommends a ratio of 250 to 1. Donato told lawmakers hiring clergy would offer more support to students.

“We are just trying to provide another tool to help with the production of great students,” Donato said.

The bill requires the school chaplains to hold a master’s degree in divinity, theology, or religious studies and have more than two years of counseling experience. Volunteer chaplains will also be allowed in schools at the district’s discretion.

In Texas, a similar bill that’s now a law created controversy after the state’s legislature approved unlicensed chaplains to perform mental health roles. The Indiana bill also had detractors.

Chris Daly, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, told lawmakers at the hearing Wednesday that the organization finds that the bill violates the First Amendment's separation of church and state.

"Indiana has chaplains in any number of areas of public life," Daly said. "We do not have them in our schools in an official capacity for exactly this reason."

Daly said the bill as it’s currently written would let parents direct a chaplain to provide religious counseling for their child, infringing the child's rights.

“We do believe that is a form of coercion,” Daly said. “Within a student environment where a student is required to be there, that is a liberty issue that we do believe infringes on the constitutional rights of those students.”

Sen. Andrea Hunley, D-Indianapolis, and other Senate Democrats took issue with the bill’s language.

Hunley said it’s contradictory because students can avoid parental consent in this instance but that consent is needed if a child chooses a different name at the start of the school year.

Members of the Indiana School Counselors Association, Indiana School Board Association and Indiana Family Institute said their organizations support the bill.

House religious education bill passes committee

In another discussion of faith in public schools Wednesday, House lawmakers weighed in on permitting time for students to seek religious education during a school week.

House Bill 1137 would allot up to two hours a week for students to receive religious instruction during the school day.

Similarly, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have laws allowing this type of instruction but with guardrails like voluntary participation and requirements that programs not take place on school campuses.

State Rep. Kendell Culp, R-Rensselaer, one of the bill’s co-authors, said he sees the bill as a way to give parents more control over the decision to have their child attend religious instruction.

“We don't want to interrupt the school day with parents or students leaving at multiple times,” Culp said. “It's best to work together to make sure that we don't have an interruption of that critical instruction that takes place during the school day. “

Rep. Robert Behning, R-Indianapolis, offered up an amendment to the bill that would not allow habitually truant students or students in poor academic standing from participating in a religious program because “there needs to be benchmarks.”

The House Education Committee Wednesday unanimously approved the bill.

Rachel Fradette is a suburban education reporter at IndyStar. Contact her at rfradette@gannett.com or follow her on Twitter at @Rachel_Fradette.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana lawmakers may address school counselor shortage with chaplains