KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law Thursday allowing volunteer chaplains to counsel students in public and charter schools, despite warnings from a pastors group, the ACLU and the Satanic Temple that it would violate the First Amendment.

“There are some students (who) need some soul prep,” said DeSantis, who signed the measure at Tohopekaliga High School near Kissimmee. “And that can make all the difference in the world. And so these chaplains … come in and provide services.”

DeSantis said the law, set to go effect in July, would stand up to court challenges because the program was voluntary and parents would have to provide consent for their children to meet with the chaplains.

“No one’s being forced to do anything, but to exclude religious groups from campus, that is discrimination,” he said. “You’re basically saying that God has no place. That’s wrong. That’s not what our Founding Fathers intended.”

The ACLU of Florida has opposed the measure, with legislative director Kara Gross writing in a statement on the group’s website last month that the law would violate “religious-freedom rights by exposing all public school students to the risk of chaplains evangelizing them or imposing religion on them throughout their school day.”

Gross also wrote that “it appears that anyone can hold themselves out as a volunteer ‘chaplain,’ as there does not seem to be any credentialing required. Additionally, it creates 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.”

DeSantis called the ACLU’s concerns “bogus” because the program was voluntary.

The new law uses the title chaplain but requires none of the specialized training that health care facilities, the military and most prisons require of chaplains, said the Rev. James Golden, a retired pastor in the Tampa Bay area. He noted the bill requires only that volunteer chaplains pass a basic background check.

Golden is part of the group Pastors for Florida’s Children, which opposed the bill when it was under consideration by the Legislature this spring.

The argument for the new law is that schools need help meeting students’ mental health needs.

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