The largest 25 school districts in Texas have all rejected creating a new chaplain program. Those 25 districts account for 1 in 3 of all school children in Texas – or 1.8 million out of 5.4 million children attend a school in one of those districts. These districts are politically diverse. They include places like Katy, Cy Fair, Conroe, Frisco, Plano, and North East ISD.
We know these districts have rejected creating a new program because our Public School Defenders attended the meetings and reported the outcomes to us. That’s just one part of the work these Texans did to help their local, unpaid school boards make wise decisions in the face of political pressure.
We think that keeping local stakeholders at the center is vital, and we think Texas is a case study for those in other states contending with similar legislation.
Over the last six months, it was local people of faith talking to their locally elected school boards that caused this outcome. People of faith provided critical cover for trustees. Local people of faith could say: “We know professional chaplaincy. Some of us are professional chaplains. Professional chaplains go through years of training. We know what we are qualified to do, and what we are not qualified to do. And we do not want division in our public schools.”
Local school boards told our members how much they appreciated the good relationships they have with all the different faiths present in their communities. Local boards wanted to clearly affirm what they already do without doing anything new or divisive — and that made sense.
If you look at these resolutions, they continue to allow these current faith based partnerships — and of course anyone who happens to be a chaplain can apply for jobs or volunteer opportunities — so long as they meet the qualifications for that already existing volunteer positions. This is nothing new. It’s our current nondiscrimination laws.
This is what school districts overwhelmingly did.
Today, we are saying we are 25 for 25 in the largest 25 because that’s what we can say with certainty right now. However, we are very confident these numbers are much higher and just as overwhelming because of the reports coming in from our members. In their local lobby efforts, our members report that it really didn’t matter if the school boards leaned liberal or conservative. For example, all 4 of the so-called Patriot Mobile districts in Tarrant County — Southlake, Grapevine-Colleyville, Keller, and Mansfield — rejected creating a new chaplain program. Those 4 districts aren’t included in the top 25.
That’s why we confidently say that Texas public schools are still safe for every faith.