KATY, Texas — The Katy ISD Board of Trustees voted Monday evening to not allow chaplains to counsel students.
The vote was passed 5-2 for the resolution to decline accepting chaplains as volunteers.
The board of trustees went back and forth Monday night debating the issue for about 30 minutes. Finally, they took a vote and decided against hiring chaplains.
“You wouldn’t be able to guarantee what faith, what beliefs. I think that’s a parent’s right. To teach the faith they want. Leave our faith in our homes. It’s the parents’ right to choose,” Rebecca Fox, Katy ISD school board trustee, said. “It doesn’t belong in schools. School is for academics.”
“Spiritual formation and religious training are the responsibility of parents and their churches, synagogues, mosques, temples,” Board President Victor Perez said. “That’s the parent's right. We cannot expect the schools to take over parenting.”
It’s a little bit confusing. The measure up for a vote was to decline opting into the new law. This meant voting “yes” meant they were against hiring chaplains in school. “No” meant they were for it.
Perez along with board members Fox, Dawn Champagne, Mary Ellen Cuzela and Lance Redmon voted against the measure, while Morgan Calhoun and Amy Thieme voted in favor.
All Texas school districts are required to vote on this measure by March 1.
A new law signed by Gov. Greg Abbott last year allows school districts to hire chaplains in counselor roles without having to meet qualifications other counselors would be required to meet. Under the law, the chaplains would not have to be certified by the State Board for Educator Certification as counselors.
If districts choose to move forward with bringing on chaplains on their staff, they could provide mental health support and services in schools.
In addition to Katy ISD, Houston ISD also declined to bring chaplains on as counselors.