On Friday, the Supreme Court announced that it will hear a case about the potential opening of the first publicly funded Christian charter school in the United States in Oklahoma.
The justices stated that they would examine a judgment made by the Oklahoma Supreme Court that invalidated the permission of a state body for an application submitted by the Catholic Church in Oklahoma to open a charter school.
In recent years, the Supreme Court, which is ruled by conservatives, has made a number of rulings that indicate a readiness to permit the use of public funding for religious organizations.
At the same time, governments governed by conservatives have attempted to include religion into public schools. For example, Louisiana has a law that requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed in classrooms.
The matter will likely be debated in late April and a decision will be made by early summer. Justice Amy Coney Barrett is not participating in the case, but she did not provide a reason for her absence.
In June of last year, the highest court in Oklahoma ruled by a vote of 7-1 that a Christian charter school sponsored by taxpayer money would be in violation of the First Amendment, which bans the government from adopting any law “respecting an establishment of religion.”
The Statewide Virtual Charter School Board voted 3-2 in 2023 to approve an application from the archdiocese for the St. Isidore of Seville Virtual Charter School. The decision was made after this vote. The K-12 online school intended to begin sessions for its first 200 students in the fall of last year. One of its goals is to spread the Catholic faith to its students.
A group of parents, religion leaders, and a nonprofit organization that supports public education in Oklahoma filed a lawsuit to prevent the school from opening.
Justice James Winchester, who was appointed by Frank Keating, a former Republican governor, wrote in the court’s majority ruling, “Under Oklahoma law, a charter school is a public school.” Because of this, a charter school cannot be affiliated with any religion.
“However, St. Isidore will evangelize the Catholic school curriculum while sponsored by the state.”
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Justice Dana Kuehn, in her dissent, stated that if St. Isidore were not allowed to run a charter school just because of its religious affiliation, that would violate another provision of the First Amendment that protects religious freedom.
The case puts Gentner Drummond, the Republican attorney general of Oklahoma, and Kevin Stitt, the Republican governor of Oklahoma, on opposing sides.
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Stitt is in favor of the school. Drummond warned that the Catholic charter school would, in his opinion, violate the Constitution. He also reversed the recommendation that his Republican predecessor had given to the charter school board.
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