A bill allowing school districts to hire chaplains is heading to the House floor.
House Bill 410 cleared the House Education Committee Tuesday morning largely along party lines.
Under the bill, chaplains could be paid or volunteers. School districts could also limit who these religious figures could counsel to exclude students, for example.
Rep. Dale Hawkins (R-Fernwood) said teachers, staff and students could all use help dealing with the daily stress schools bring.
“With what we see going on in the world today, I think that this might be a pretty good opportunity,” said Hawkins. “It may be used by few, it may be used by many. We have [no way of knowing], but this makes it available to [school districts].”
Rep. Mark Sauter (R-Sandpoint) asked Hawkins if school districts could hire chaplains currently, to which he said he didn’t know the answer.
Just two people offered public comment for the bill, including Hauns Snyder, the founder of Satanic Idaho.
Snyder said he welcomes the legislation.
“Many fellow Satanists and I are eager to introduce Satanic values into schools serving as chaplains throughout Idaho. These values include empathy, compassion, respect, justice, plurality and equality,” he said.
The proposal doesn’t specify a particular religion or denomination a chaplain would have to represent.
Quinn Perry, the lobbyist and deputy director for the Idaho School Boards Association, said the bill would cause chaos within school districts.
“Asking school boards or their administration to be in a position to pick and choose which religion the chaplain is serving from will undoubtably create community issues and divides,” Perry said.
Others who voted against the bill said it could violate recent laws passed by legislators forcing districts to publicly post any curriculum related to social and emotional learning.
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