We all know there is a shortage of teachers, counselors, and administrators in the state of Texas. They have found a solution to the second group. They are allowing school districts to hire chaplains as school counselors. Since I have a masters in school counseling and have worked as a counselor for three of my 26 years, I thought I would walk us through this.

My masters program was 51 credit hours. That’s a long damn time. Most programs today are as little as 36 hours. Since most counseling students are current teachers, those programs usually limit you to six hours per semester. If you hoof it and press through the summers, you can complete the program in two calendar years.

Of course, back in the good ole’ days they didn’t put us in cohorts and streamline the process. Those 51 hours ended up taking me nearly five years. From there, I had to pass a certification exam and demonstrate that I had taught in the classroom for at least two years.

Counselors do so much more than just counsel students. They are responsible for the master schedule, they provide academic counseling to help students select classes, and help students apply for colleges, get scholarships and grants, and complete the financial aid form. Yes, they also counsel students and have to do so for students from all religious, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds.

In addition to working as a teacher during the day, I am also a catechist at night and on weekends. That just means that I assist the youth minister with the confirmation program. In order to be qualified to do that, I have to complete a Safe Environment course every five years. They also do a criminal background check. That’s it. Otherwise, I just raised my hand and volunteered.

Obviously, my experience as a teacher and counselor comes in handy. I am able to assist with lesson planning and working with students with special needs. I certainly wasn’t trained at the church for that and I end up actually doing the training in an unofficial capacity.  One can certainly appreciate that anyone can become a chaplain through the simple process of completing an internet course. I would have to imagine that online courses from major religious groups aren’t far behind.

Meanwhile, no one has bothered to ask why there is a shortage in the first place. Counselor pay is unpredictable and woefully inadequate in many places. One friend I know took a pay cut to get a counseling position in another district. I am too close to the end to take a pay cut. Even a transfer for similar pay makes little sense. I’ve done this before. There is more stress, longer hours, and the stakes are higher. Why would I do that for the same money?

People like me bide our time and wait for the right opportunity to present itself. The difficulty with chaplains is that they don’t have this training or experience. They are short-circuiting the process and bypassing many of the steps that makes counselors good at what they do. Being a teacher made me a better counselor. I knew what teachers and students were going through.

One of the courses I took was called religious counseling. It essentially taught us the basics so that we would have a basic understanding of every major religion we might encounter. Are chaplains doing this? Are they doing any of it? As the law is written now, they won’t have to. They just has to produce a certificate that says they are a chaplain. Well, I guess I could do that. I’ve done that too for over 20 years.