4 July 6-12, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Code Red Civil rights groups warn school districts of con- stitutional problems with Texas’ new chap- lain law. BY SIMONE CARTER S everal civil rights groups are warning Texas school districts not to allow chaplains to work on campuses. A letter sent to superinten- dents and board members last week advised them against bringing on chaplains, some- thing made possible by the recently signed Senate Bill 763. The new law, which takes ef- fect Sept. 1, instructs school boards to vote on the adoption of a policy that lets cam- puses hire chaplains or accept them as vol- unteers. The civil rights coalition, which includes the American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU of Texas, argues in the letter that the introduction of chaplains into public schools is unconstitutional. They wrote that families — “not government-imposed religious lead- ers” — have the right to teach their kids about faith. “Texas’ public schools are religiously di- verse, and all students should feel safe and welcome in them. Opening the schoolhouse doors to chaplains would undermine this critical goal,” the letter continued. “We will not hesitate to defend the rights of students and families against school districts that take up the Legislature’s misguided and un- lawful invitation to install clergy in official positions.” Texas Republicans pushed for more reli- gion in public schools during the legislative session. One failed proposal would have mandated classroom displays of the Ten Commandments. Detractors of the chaplain measure say that it’s one of a slew of bills nationwide aimed at replacing secular democracy in fa- vor of Christian nationalism. The coalition warned that if chaplains are allowed to assume formal roles in schools, it will inevitably lead to religious indoctrination of students. They argue that even the act of deciding which chap- lains to include fundamentally affords “unconstitutional preferences” to certain faiths. Chloe Kempf, an attorney for the ACLU of Texas, told the Observer in an emailed statement that the public’s and educators’ response to the letter has been “overwhelm- ingly supportive. “Texans of all religious backgrounds, and those who are not religious, know that schools and government officials should not be dictating what our children worship,” Kempf continued. “Despite certain politi- cians’ efforts to force state-sponsored reli- gion into public schools, our letter makes clear that students have a First Amendment right to be free from religious coercion. School Boards must reject the use of chap- lains in schools.” State Sen. Mayes Middleton, a Galveston Republican, authored SB 763. He didn’t re- turn the Observer’s request for comment but has previously argued that such legislation is needed to ensure “schools are not God-free zones.” Middleton and the bill’s supporters insist that “returning God to classrooms” will aid in mental health needs and prevent drug use, school shootings and suicides, according to The Texas Tribune. Yet others fear it will worsen young Texans’ mental health by em- phasizing unscientific methods like prayer rather than proven counseling solutions. Dallas state Sen. Nathan Johnson criti- cized the bill in April. “As a practical matter I think it’s unlikely that we’re going to see anything close to par- ity in representation in terms of which reli- gion is represented by chaplains on a school campus,” the Democrat said on the Senate floor, according to K-12 Dive. “I just don’t think we’re going to see Muslim [imams] and Jewish rabbis on a campus.” Rachel Laser is the president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which also signed on to the civil liberties coalition’s letter. She placed the state of religious freedom in Texas “at Code Red.” Laser noted that while counselors in Texas must meet certain standards, includ- ing state certification, the law doesn’t man- date the same for chaplains. “The House was able to add bare-bones amendments to prohibit registered sex of- fenders from serving as school chaplains and to institute background checks,” she said. “But outside of that, there’s just so little regulation.” Laser also pointed to other GOP-backed Texas legislation, like bans on abortion and gender-affirming care for transgender youth. The way she sees it, religious extrem- ists and their lawmaker allies are making progress in imposing their own beliefs on everyone else. An emboldened religious movement is trying to force a narrow form of Christianity into our public schools, she said. Some are attempting to turn religious freedom into a license to discriminate, she added. Texas is witnessing a full-on assault on public schools, she continued, but other states are, too. This year, Laser’s organization has tracked more than 1,500 similar bills nation- wide. She cited new laws in Kentucky and Idaho that could allow teachers and coaches to pray in front of and with students. She said such bills use government employees to impose religion on children, adding that Americans United is calling for a national recommitment to church-state separation. “It’s a scary day for our democracy,” La- ser said, “and for everything that sits on the wall of separation between church and state.” ▼ WEATHER CRUEL SUMMER CRITICS BLAST NEW LAW AFTER DALLAS POSTMAN DIES AMID EXTREME HEAT, BY SIMONE CARTER P ostal worker Eugene Gates Jr. report- edly collapsed in a resident’s front yard while on his route in Dallas’ Lakewood area On June 20. The 66-year-old lost consciousness on a day when the heat index soared to roughly 115 degrees, a level the National Weather Service has deemed “dangerous.” After a resident performed CPR and called 911, Gates was rushed to the hospital, where he ultimately died. His official cause of death hasn’t been made public, although some outlets have reported that heat may have been to blame. Now, advocacy groups and labor unions are sounding the alarm over legislation they say could put outdoor workers’ lives at risk. House Bill 2127 by state Rep. Dustin Bur- rows, a Lubbock Republican, forbids local authorities from passing and enforcing ordi- nances stricter than state law in a wide swath of areas, including labor, finance and agriculture. Gov. Greg Abbott signed the bill days before Gates’ death. While proponents argue the measure will smooth out inconsistencies in Texas’ patch- work of business-related regulations, critics fear it could endanger the health and safety of the state’s outdoor workers, among other concerns. HB 2127, which takes effect on Sept. 1, will nullify mandated 10-minute water breaks every four hours for construction workers in Dallas and Austin. Adrian Shelley, the Texas director of the advocacy organization Public Citizen, told the Observer via email that 279 workers died last year in the Texas heat. “Meanwhile Texas lawmakers have dou- bled down, endangering lives to keep Texas ‘open for business,’” Shelley said. “We’ve seen enough death. In a world of climate change and hotter summers, the only alter- native is preventing heat-related deaths.” Public Citizen is calling on OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administra- tion, to update federal workplace standards to better protect workers from heat stress. The group notes that the country’s deadliest weather hazard is heat, writing that it claims more lives than floods, tornadoes and hurri- canes combined. Reached via email for comment, the Dal- las AFL-CIO union told the Observer that “HEAT CAN KILL TEXAS WORKERS!” Fi- nancial Secretary Treasurer Lou Luckhardt and President Gene Lantz said that the threat workers face in terms of high heat and humidity is alarming to those involved in the Dallas labor movement. They also extended their sympathies to Gates’ family and encouraged employers and workers alike “to deal with this problem cautiously. “Further, labor is outraged that Governor Abbott and the Republicans in the Texas Leg- islature are uncaring about worker safety,” Luckhardt and Lantz continued. “They just made it Texas law that cities cannot mandate water breaks for workers. Reverend Jesse Jackson was quoted in [Houston] Style Maga- zine: ‘In reality, this legislation essentially treats workers as property — without human rights, even the right to life — to be used as their employers deem fit.’” The offices of Abbott and Burrows did not return the Observer’s requests for com- ment. Texas AFL-CIO blasted HB 2127 in light of the recent death of another | UNFAIR PARK | Jana Birchum/Getty Images In a 2005 photo, then-Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott celebrates a U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed a Ten Commandments monument to stand outside the Texas Capitol. >> p6
