SB325: SB325 Education; local school systems and public schools to employ or accept as volunteers school chaplains; authorize

Georgia law currently funds school counselor positions through the state's public school funding formula and sets rules for who can access confidential child abuse records or be considered a 'child protection professional.' This bill, called the 'School Chaplains Act,' would let local school systems and individual public schools employ or accept as volunteers school chaplains to provide support, services, and programs for students as assigned by a superintendent, school board, or other governing body. School chaplains could be used in addition to or instead of school counselors and could perform school counselor duties, but they would not have to be certificated professional personnel or follow Professional Standards Commission rules. The bill also adds school chaplains to the legal definition of 'child protection professional' (O.C.G.A. § 19-15-1) and lets them access confidential child abuse records when counseling a student (O.C.G.A. § 49-5-41). Local boards of education must vote in public by December 31, 2025 on whether to adopt a policy allowing school chaplains. The law would take effect as soon as the Governor signs it.

• Authorizes local school systems and public schools to employ or accept as volunteers school chaplains to provide support, services, and programs for students.
• Allows school chaplains to perform school counselor duties instead of, or in addition to, certified school counselors.
• Exempts school chaplains from the requirement to be certificated professional personnel or to follow Professional Standards Commission rules.
• Adds school chaplains to the legal definition of 'child protection professional' under Georgia's child abuse laws (O.C.G.A. § 19-15-1).
• Gives school chaplains who are counseling a student access to confidential child abuse report records (O.C.G.A. § 49-5-41), with unauthorized disclosure punishable as a misdemeanor.
• Requires each local board of education or school governing body to hold a public vote by December 31, 2025 on whether to adopt a policy allowing school chaplains.

Public school students, parents, school counselors, local school boards and superintendents, and any people who might serve as school chaplains, whether paid staff or volunteers, in Georgia's public school systems.

Schools could bring in chaplains, who do not need counseling certification, to do work currently reserved for trained school counselors, including reviewing confidential child abuse records. Whether this happens in a given district depends on a required public vote by local school boards before the end of 2025.

• Section 1 names the bill the 'School Chaplains Act.'
• Section 2 amends O.C.G.A. § 19-15-1 to add school chaplains to the definition of 'child protection professional.'
• Section 3 amends O.C.G.A. § 20-2-182(c) to let local school systems and schools employ or accept volunteer chaplains to perform counselor duties, and exempts them from certification rules.
• Section 3 also requires local boards of education to vote publicly by December 31, 2025 on whether to authorize school chaplains.
• Section 4 amends O.C.G.A. § 49-5-41(c)(10) to let school chaplains access confidential child abuse records while counseling a student, with unauthorized disclosure treated as a misdemeanor.
• Section 5 sets the effective date as the date the Governor signs the bill or it otherwise becomes law.

1. 2025-03-06Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
2. 2025-03-05Senate Hopper (Senate)

• Marty Harbin (R, SD-016)Primary sponsor
• Max Burns (R, SD-023)
• John Albers (R, SD-056)
• Steve Gooch (R, SD-051)
• Randy Robertson (R, SD-029)
• Mike Hodges (R, SD-003)
• Ricky Williams (R, SD-025)
• Drew Echols (R, SD-049)
• Colton Moore (R, SD-053)
• Larry Walker (R, SD-020)

• school chaplains
• public education policy
• school counselors
• child abuse records
• local school boards