Oklahoma Supreme Court court rejects proposed religious public charter school

The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a proposed state-financed Catholic charter school, saying the first-of-its-kind religious public school violated the state and U.S. Constitution.

The case of St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School would have marked the first time a state directly funded a religious public school. The ruling is expected to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and will be closely watched after several recent rulings that have widened the allowed use of tax dollars in support of religious education.

The ruling said the state’s charter school act, as well as the state and U.S. constitutions, allow only nonsectarian public schools, and that the state is prohibited from using public money for the establishment of a religious institution.

Supporters of the school, which was approved last year by the state online charter school board, noted recent Supreme Court rulings that say if states give money to secular schools via vouchers, they can’t discriminate against religious schools. St. Isidore made the same argument about charter schools.

“The educational promise of St. Isidore is reflected in the 200-plus applications we have received from families excited for this new learning opportunity,” wrote Lara Schuler, senior director of Catholic Education for the Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. The ruling “disregards the needs of many families in Oklahoma who only desire a choice in their child’s education. We will remain steadfast as we seek to right this wrong and to join Oklahoma’s great diversity of charter schools serving all families in the state.”

GOP Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who filed a lawsuit against the proposed school in October, wrote in a statement that the decision “is a tremendous victory for religious liberty. The framers of the U.S. Constitution and those who drafted Oklahoma’s Constitution clearly understood how best to protect religious freedom — by preventing the State from sponsoring any religion at all.”

Drummond in his statement framed the decision as a check against some minority faiths.

“Now Oklahomans can be assured their tax dollars will not fund the teachings of Sharia Law or even Satanism,” he wrote. “While I understand that the Governor and other politicians are disappointed with this outcome, I hope that the people of Oklahoma can rejoice that they will not be compelled to fund radical religious schools that violate their faith.”

St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School was to be operated by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa, and leaders said religion would be infused throughout the curriculum.

While vouchers give public money to students for private schools, the establishment of the Oklahoma charter school would have meant the government was paying directly for education infused with religion.

Those on both sides of the debate said they are watching to see if the case is taken up by the Supreme Court, whose approval of direct funding of religion would change modern history. Some experts have questioned what would remain of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment if states can directly fund religious education — a sentiment the court decision echoed.

Allowing the school to go ahead, the Oklahoma justices wrote Tuesday, “would create a slippery slope and what the framers’ warned against — the destruction of Oklahomans’ freedom to practice religion without fear of governmental intervention.”

The leader of the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom, which advocates for school choice, tweeted Tuesday that the decision was “probably” correct.

“Charter schools are public schools, and government should not be in the position of approving or not approving religious schools,” wrote Neal McCluskey. The answer, he said, was to let parents take their tax dollars to spend where they wish — essentially, by utilizing vouchers.