Will Supreme Court Uphold Constitutionality of Oklahoma Religious Charter School?
The U.S. Supreme Court in April will consider whether St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School can participate in the state’s charter-school program.
St. Isidore submitted its charter-school application in early 2023, which Oklahoma’s Statewide Charter School Board approved in June the same year. It is seeking to become the nation’s first religious charter school.
The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and Diocese of Tulsa formed the virtual charter school to provide “a learning opportunity for students who want and desire a quality Catholic education, but for reasons of accessibility to a brick-and-mortar location or due to cost cannot currently make it a reality.”
However, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond filed a lawsuit against the board seeking to cancel its contract with St. Isidore.
Drummond argued that “The approval of any publicly funded religious school is contrary to Oklahoma law and not in the best interest of taxpayers.”
On June 25, 2024, the Oklahoma Supreme Court sided with Drummond, ruling that the board could not allow St. Isidore to participate in the charter school program solely because the school is religious.
The court said that the Oklahoma Charter School Act and the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause “both prohibit the State from using public money for the establishment of a religious institution.”
“St. Isidore’s educational philosophy is to establish and operate the school as a Catholic school,” the court wrote. “Under both state and federal law, the State is not authorized to establish or fund St. Isidore.”
Oklahoma Justice Dana Kuehn dissented from the court’s decision, arguing that the state “would not be establishing, aiding, or favoring any particular religious organization” by allowing St. Isidore to operate a virtual charter school.
“To the contrary,” Kuehn added, “Excluding private entities from contracting for functions, based solely on religious affiliation, would violate the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.”
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case on Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in time for the court to issue a ruling by the end of its term, likely in late June.
Alliance Defending Freedom is representing the school board and filed its opening brief at the Supreme Court earlier this month.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court’s distortion of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause “forces States to exclude religious groups from generally available government programs,” ADF argues. “And it deprives low-income families of educational options they so desperately want and need, leaving them without the opportunities that affluent families enjoy.”
In a statement issued on March 13, ADF Chief Legal Counsel Jim Campbell said, “Oklahoma parents and children are better off with more educational choices, not fewer.” He added,
The Daily Citizen will keep you apprised of important developments in this case. Expect a final decision to be handed down by the Supreme Court in late June.
The case is Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond.
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