The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled the state’s approval of the first publicly funded religious charter school in the nation violates state and federal law, and is unconstitutional.
State Attorney General Gentner Drummond sued the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board on Oct. 20 after the board, by a 3-2 vote, approved the creation of St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. The state Supreme Court, which assumed original jurisdiction in the case, heard oral arguments over a contract between the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board and a religious charter school on April 2.
The case is being watched closely due to its religious overtones in a public charter school setting and potential for a precedent-setting ruling. Charter schools are privately run but publicly funded, and such schools with a direct focus on religion have so far been nonexistent. That’s due to controversy over the use of public funding for parochial education. The schools are allowed dictate their own curriculum and teaching styles.
The court gave the defendants in the case 10 days to apply for a rehearing of the case, although it’s a virtual certainty the ruling Tuesday will be appealed.
Arguments festered over the religious nature of the Oklahoma public charter school
Attorneys for the virtual charter school board and St. Isidore argued the school, which would be the nation’s first Catholic virtual charter school, would actually be a private entity, and not a public school.
Justice James Winchester, in his opinion, disagreed.
“Under Oklahoma law, a charter school is a public school,” he wrote. “As such, a charter school must be nonsectarian. … St. Isidore cannot justify its creation by invoking Free Exercise rights as a religious entity.”
The court ordered the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board to terminate its contract with St. Isidore. Six justices agreed with Winchester’s decision and another agreed in part and dissented in part. One justice completely dissented and another recused himself.
Contributing: Kayla Jimenez, Alia Wong USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma Supreme Court rules religious charter school unconstitutional
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