I think that if parents wanted their children to recieve spiritual advice then they would send them to a religious school. Why do school's need chaplains? why not increase funding for school counsellors for example? Our school can only afford to pay a school counsellor two days a week or something, so why not use this money to make sure that all schools get full-time advisors.
Also, is it not likely that if a school employs one of these chaplains, that parents in the local are could be put-off? I mean what if you were Islamic or Jewish and your child's school decided to employ a christian chaplian? I mean, ok you don't have to take their advice, but it means government schools could develop religious leanings, which is something that i don't think would be benefical for our school system.