Are school chaplains the cure for Iowa students' mental health needs? What a new bill says:

School districts would be allowed to hire religious chaplains under a proposed bill in the Iowa Legislature.

Senate Study Bill 3092, touted by Republicans as a way to address students' mental health, is modeled from a Texas law that allows chaplains to counsel in schools and serve many of the functions of a counselor.

Those hired or brought on as volunteers would not be required to be certified or licensed, according to the bill, and students would not be required to engage with them. Background checks would be required on chaplains, who would serve under the jurisdiction of the school board.

Those who support the legislation argued it would introduce a new resource for students struggling with mental health, and could help improve teacher retention rates and reduce bullying and suicides.

But a range of organizations, and several chaplains, warned at a subcommittee hearing Wednesday that the legislation was written vaguely and was an ill-fitting solution to mental health concerns in schools.

Rep. Helena Hayes, R-New Sharon, who is sponsoring an identical version of the bill with a group of Republicans in the House, said the chaplains were intended to provide "spiritual guidance."

Chuck Hurley, vice president of The Family Leader, said he and Hayes learned about the law at a conference in Texas last year.

A chaplain with Des Moines Police Department, Rev. Al Perez, said the role could be valuable in schools with a lack of counseling staff.

"There's a great need," Perez said, pointing to potential language and ethnic barriers between counselors and student bodies.

The proposal drew wide criticism from faith and school groups Wednesday about introducing potentially underqualified and unfamiliar adults into classroom environments, and about a lack of defined responsibilities for the chaplains.

"You have to be the right person with the right training, the right background, to do those kinds of things," said Jim Obradovich, who represents state associations of school counselors and psychologists. "And we want to emphasize that a chaplain is not a mental health counselor, they're not a school psychologist or social worker."

Mara Bailey, who works as a chaplain for Simpson College in Indianola, said that properly trained chaplains exist to refer students to professional help, rather than be a substitute for that help.

"I am deeply concerned about the assertion that any person can work or volunteer as a chaplain without regard to licensure training or requiring endorsements," Bailey said.

The Texas law, passed by state lawmakers last year, faced criticism from opponents who called it a "Trojan horse" for evangelizing students and warned it could push ineffective counseling techniques.

Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, D-West Des Moines, said she believed the proposal could violate the U.S. Constitution on religious grounds, and argued that any religious activities should take place outside of school hours ― or within religious schools.

The subcommittee chair, Sen. Jeff Taylor, R-Sioux Center, said he didn't see the bill as "dangerous" and didn't agree that its intent was to "replace counselors."

"Once you introduce a religious element into the public square, including public schools, you really can't pick and choose," Taylor said. "And this bill does not specify … Christians."

Editor's note: A previously published version of this story misidentified the Simpson College chaplain who testified on the bill. Her name is Mara Bailey.

Galen Bacharier covers politics for the Register. Reach him at gbacharier@registermedia.com or (573) 219-7440, and follow him on Twitter @galenbacharier.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa Legislature: Schools could employ religious chaplains under bill