New Law Will Allow Schools To Employ Chaplains As Volunteers

Among the earliest bills to be discussed on the floor of the Missouri Senate is one of the last to be signed into law.

Senate Bills 49 & 118 will authorize school districts and charter schools to employ or accept chaplains as volunteers.

Senator Rusty Black of Chillicothe is the sponsor…

“I believe after we went through the COVID pandemic, having family that still work in schools, etcetera, that we see problems with students all over our state.”

During discussion on Feb. 18, Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern of Kansas City made a slight change to this proposal…

“I want to make sure that we are going to explicitly ban proselytization in our public schools.”

In addition, this new law says a background check could be conducted on any school chaplain prior to such chaplain’s commencement of employment or volunteer service.

Senate Bills 49 & 118 will take effect on Aug. 28. This measure was signed into law on July 9.