The attack on the separation of state and church has many fronts, including public education. One recent example was the attempt to insert chaplains into public schools. This was seen in 15 states and, as is often the case, it eventually came to Maine.

LD 927, “An Act to Require Chaplains in School Administrative Units,” required public school districts and charter schools to provide religious chaplains for “support, services or programs to students, staff or parents of students.” The chaplain was to be certified, licensed or ordained by a faith organization recognized by the United States Department of Defense. I assume this is a reference to the Armed Forces Chaplains Board (AFCB), which may have been missed when copying text from similar bills introduced in those other states.

The chaplain was not required to be certified under Title 20-A Chapter 501 or Chapter 502, and therefore was not required to be trained in the proper handling of student issues. Such specialized training ensures student care and safety. Without that training, the only approach available to chaplains would be religious doctrine — the promotion of religion.

The AFCB has a list of “Religious-Endorsing Organizations/Agents” on its website. There are 161, of which 153 (95%) are Christian. There are few others listed and none are secular. They are overwhelmingly Christian and, practically speaking, nothing else. So, not only would the bill inject religion, it would promote the beliefs of one type of faith. Since it is presented by the government, it would show the government as favoring one faith over all others. Public schools with a staff chaplain would be exposing students to subtle, and probably not so subtle, religious indoctrination by someone in a position of authority.

This is a First Amendment violation. Public schools should provide secular education and not religious coercion camouflaged by “support, services and programs.” LD 927 was not about helping students, but subjecting children to unconstitutional, government-sponsored religious indoctrination.

Fortunately for freedom from/of religion, the final disposition was “Ought Not To Pass.” Unfortunately for freedom from/of religion, there are other fronts in the battle. Oklahoma has tried to incorporate the Bible into the curriculum. West Virginia is considering a state constitutional amendment to recognize the Bible as an “inerrant foundational document for our society and government, an accurate historical record of human and natural history, and the utmost authority for human moral behavior.” These are just two examples of the nonsense that will be coming to Maine.

There’s still a glimmer of hope, though. Last fall, Gov. Janet Mills signed an executive order to form the Governor’s Commission on School Construction. As I wrote then (“A glimmer of hope for public education,” Nov. 14, 2024), assuming that this isn’t a case of good intentions going to committee to die, therein lies hope for public education and maybe a solution to the constitutional issue of Carson v. Makin as well. The Supreme Court did not say that taxpayers must fund a parallel system of education, but if we fund private secular education we must also fund private religious education. If we stop sending public funds to private schools, the constitutional issue goes away.

Part of the commission’s work may reveal how that could be done. Taxpayer funds sent to private schools have totaled approximately $56 million per year. Over the past 10 years alone, that adds up to over half a billion dollars. That could have funded a lot of construction, upgrades and maintenance.

According to the interim summary report and some of the committee meeting material, there are options being investigated in the areas of planning, funding and construction, among many other things.

If there is no political will to come up with a way to stop publicly funding private education, then maybe the answer will be inferred from the commission’s final report. That report with recommendations was due on April 15, but has been postponed. The interim summary report is posted on the commission’s web page.

Maybe this glimmer will light at least part of the path toward keeping religion away from public education and our tax dollars.