Alabama House committee approves bill allowing chaplains in schools

Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, speaks to a colleague on the floor of the Alabama Senate on April 23, 2024 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. Behind Smitherman is Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, D-Mobile. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)

The Alabama House Education Policy Committee Wednesday approved a bill that would allow school boards to employ volunteer chaplains.

SB 294, sponsored by Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, was amended in committee to make the position volunteer-only. The amendment also drops a requirement for school boards to create policies for chaplains, instead giving boards the option to do so. The amendment also clarifies that chaplains are there at the request of teachers.

The amendment reads that “If a local board of education or governing body of a public charter school votes to accept a campus chaplain as a volunteer, a campus chaplain may be made available to provide support, services, and programs at the request of any teacher in the local school district.”

“This has nothing to do with replacing counselors or nothing of that nature,” said Smitherman.

The bill was approved on a voice vote.

Only one member of the public spoke at a public hearing on the bill. 

Adam Jortner, Goodwin Philpott Eminent Professor of Religion at Auburn University, said that the bill as written was a threat to “the rights of the Christian majority in this state.”

Jortner said that parents have the right to guide their children’s spiritual development. He said the bill could allow chaplains of different denominations than the family or who the parents disagree with to influence their children. 

“The fact of the matter is that Christians do not agree with one another,” he said. “If you are a Southern Baptist, you understand this. If you are not, I’m telling you.”

Rep. TaShina Morris, D-Montgomery, clarified with Smitherman that the bill was strictly for teachers. 

“We’re doing this work for our teachers’ safety,” she said.

Rep. Alan Baker, R-Brewton, also asked if there were limitations if the bill limited the board to having one volunteer chaplain, which Smitherman said it didn’t.

Smitherman told a story from college when he received an “A” in a comparative religion course by writing that religions could not be compared because people’s experiences were personal with religion.

“It gives each one of them individually to make that request,” said Smitherman.

Rep. Tracy Estes, R-Winfield, said the bill was a mental health as much as a spiritual bill, which Smitherman agreed with.

“You’re just really trying to give our teachers another resource to help them cope if they’re going through a difficult time,” he said.

The bill moves to the full House of Representatives. The bill needs at least one day to pass; there are four legislative days left in the session.

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