OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a news conference Thursday morning at Tohopekaliga High School in Osceola County, signing two bills he said would help enhance the student experience.
“It (the legislation) provides students with even more resources to be able to help them through difficult times, make the most of their own lives, realize all their opportunities and dreams,” DeSantis said.
The bills, HB 1317 and HB 931, will authorize Florida school districts and charter schools to host representatives of “patriotic organizations” to speak to students and to allow volunteer school chaplains, respectively. Both will take effect July 1.
“When education in the United States first started, every school was a religious school. I mean, that was just part of it. Public schools were religious schools,” DeSantis said of HB 931. “You know, there’s been things that have been done over the years that veered away from, I think, that original intent, but the reality is, I think what we’re doing is really restoring the sense of purpose that our founding fathers wanted to see for education.”
[EXCLUSIVE: Become a News 6 Insider (it’s FREE) | PINIT! Share your photos]
HB 1317, “Patriotic Organizations,” clears the way for representatives of youth-serving membership organizations to speak with and distribute informational materials to students — during school hours, instructional time and in a classroom setting — which promote patriotism and civic involvement, the bill text states. The representatives will also be able to encourage participation in their organization and their presence must be announced to parents or guardians ahead of time, providing opportunities to withhold consent on students’ behalf. School districts will not be required to provide “equal access to an organization that is not designated as a patriotic organization,” according to the bill.
As far as which groups are designated “a patriotic organization” and will be allowed to make the presentations, DeSantis listed several:
“Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, Boy Scouts, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Civil Air Patrol, Farmers of America (FFA), Girl Scouts, Little League Baseball, Marine Corps League, Navy SEAL Cadet Corps, and so our view is bringing them in — letting them come and make a pitch to students about why they should participate in Little League Baseball, why they should participate in Big Brothers Big Sisters, why they should participate in Future Farmers of America — we think that that’s good,” DeSantis said of HB 1317.
HB 931, “School Chaplains,” will allow school districts and charter schools to adopt a policy authorizing volunteer school chaplains to provide support, services and programs to students as assigned by said district or charter school, the bill text states. Minimum requirements include that such support, services and programs be described, that principals of schools with a chaplain program inform all parents of its availability and that written parental consent be provided before a student receives the support. Further, parents may go on to select a chaplain from a district-provided list “which must include the chaplain’s religious affiliation, if any,” according to the bill.
Volunteer school chaplains will be subjected to background checks and will appear listed on a participating school district or charter school’s website, the bill states.
Before signing the chaplains bill, DeSantis assured his audience that the legislation would not lead to “satanists running around in all our schools,” going on to claim Satanism is not a religion and thus would not qualify for a volunteer chaplain program.
“Some have said that if you do a school chaplain program that somehow you’re going to have satanists running around in all our schools. Just understand, we’re not playing those games in Florida, that is not a religion, that is not qualifying to be able to participate in this. So we’re going to be using common sense when it comes to this. So you don’t have to worry about that,” DeSantis said.
The governor did not list which specific religions would qualify for volunteer school chaplain programs, later stating it would be left to the districts and charter schools.
Also regarding HB 931, DeSantis took up issue with the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU on March 7 published a news release urging DeSantis to veto the bill on grounds it could harm students’ well-being through the installation of “uncredentialed chaplains” in schools where certified counseling and support services would be more beneficial, as well as claiming the legislation would create “a significant risk of liability for school districts that will inevitably be picking and choosing which chaplains from which religions to approve or reject in their schools.”
“The ACLU is basically saying is that it’s OK to discriminate against religious organizations. They think the Church should be a second-class citizen. They think you should not have the same access to come to campus than any other student organization or other types of groups would have, that it’s an inferior status. The First Amendment was enacted to prevent that. First Amendment was enacted to be able to ensure that people weren’t discriminated against on the basis of religion or on the basis of their fate,” DeSantis said, invoking the constitutional amendment codifying the separation of church and state.
Watch the news conference again in the player below:
DeSantis on Wednesday signed a bill in Hialeah Gardens, which will add “history of communism” instruction in public schools starting in the 2026-27 school year.
[RELATED: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs 14 more bills into law. Here’s what they are, when they take effect]
Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily: