Federal court allows Jewish charter school to move forward in Oklahoma

Jack BirleSeptember 25, 2026

A federal judge ruled that Oklahoma officials cannot prevent a jewish school, the National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation, from participating in the state’s charter school program. This decision was made over a year after the Supreme Court declined to rule on the constitutionality of taxpayer-funded religious charter schools. Judge David Russell found that excluding the religious school violates the first Amendment, which prohibits the government from discriminating against religious institutions. Oklahoma officials argued that admitting the school would violate the Establishment clause, but the judge rejected this argument, affirming that religious schools cannot be excluded solely based on their religious character.

A federal judge ruled that Oklahoma officials cannot exclude a Jewish school from the state’s charter school program, more than a year after the Supreme Court punted on the constitutionality of taxpayer-funded religious charter schools.

U.S. District Judge David Russell, an appointee of former President Ronald Reagan, found that Oklahoma officials’ denial of the National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation into the charter program violates the First Amendment because the state cannot “single out religious schools for exclusion solely because of their religious character.” Oklahoma officials had argued that allowing the school into the program would violate the First Amendment’s establishment clause, which bars the government from establishing a state religion, an argument the judge rejected.