An Iowa legislator voices his thoughts on a bill that involves school districts bringing on members to offer help to students.

House File 334 was recently introduced to authorize school districts, charter schools, and innovation zone schools to employ chaplains, or have volunteer chaplains to provide services to students. Iowa House District 28 Representative David Young tells Raccoon Valley Radio that under current legislation, a school district has the ability to hire a chaplain if they see fit. 

He says that if schools have an option whether they want to bring on a chaplain right now, then he sees no issue with it. However, Young believes that the action shouldn’t be demanded to be installed into every school. He also wants schools to carefully analyze any staff member they chose to hire.

“You want to make sure that if you do bring a chaplain in, you want to make sure that they’re certified. And I would do a background check just like I would with anybody else who’s coming into our school.”

Young mentions that he would love to hear feedback from the school districts that are engaging in this practice. He doubles down that schools should possess the power to make the executive decision regarding chaplains, instead of being pressured to do so from the legislature.