{"id":2075370,"date":"2023-10-21T20:31:02","date_gmt":"2023-10-22T00:31:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/oklahoma-attorney-general-sues-to-stop-first-public-religious-school-in-united-states\/"},"modified":"2023-10-21T20:36:05","modified_gmt":"2023-10-22T00:36:05","slug":"oklahoma-attorney-general-sues-to-stop-first-public-religious-school-in-united-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/oklahoma-attorney-general-sues-to-stop-first-public-religious-school-in-united-states\/","title":{"rendered":"Oklahoma AG sues to halt first US public religious school."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Foklahoma-attorney-general-sues-to-stop-first-public-religious-school-in-united-states%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2075370&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Oklahoma Attorney General Sues to Stop Publicly Funded Religious School<\/h2>\n<p>Oklahoma&#8217;s attorney\u200d general, Gentner Drummond, has\u200b taken legal\u200b action\u2063 to prevent the establishment of the first \u2062publicly funded religious school in the United States. Drummond, a Republican, argues that approving a Catholic \u2064school would set a dangerous\u200d precedent and open the\u200b door for the approval of\u200d other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-bill-would-eliminate-single-sex-spaces-on-college-campuses\/\" title=\"New Bill Would Eliminate Single-Sex Spaces on College Campuses\">religious schools<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Absent the intervention of this court, the board members\u2019 shortsighted votes in\u2062 violation of their oath of office \u2062and the law will pave \u2062the way for\u200c a proliferation of \u2064the direct public funding of religious schools whose tenets are diametrically\u200c opposed by most \u2064Oklahomans,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/24074403-oklahoma-lawsuit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the suit<\/a>, filed with the Oklahoma Supreme Court, stated.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Related Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h3>Oregon Reiterates Decision to Drop Essential Skills Requirements for High School Graduates<\/h3>\n<p>10\/21\/2023<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>High \u2062School Completion, Income Levels \u200bIncreasing for First Nations Peoples: \u2062StatCan<\/h3>\n<p>10\/21\/2023<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Drummond expressed concern that the approval\u2064 of the Catholic school could set a precedent for funding\u2063 radical Muslim teachings like Sharia law. He filed the lawsuit against the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board, \u200bwhich approved the application for\u2064 the St. Isidore of Seville Virtual \u200dCharter School despite objections from the Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City.<\/p>\n<p>The Oklahoma Constitution prohibits public schools from being controlled\u200c by\u200c any specific religion and from\u200c using\u200d public funds to\u2064 support religious institutions. \u2062The board&#8217;s \u200capproval is seen as a violation of these constitutional\u2062 provisions and the\u200c Oklahoma Charter Schools\u200c Act, which requires charter\u2062 schools to be nonsectarian.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit\u200b argues that the board members\u200d who voted for the approval failed in their duty to deny the application and seeks to rectify \u200dtheir unlawful action. The board and \u2064the Catholic \u200cArchdiocese have not responded to the suit.<\/p>\n<p>Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, also a Republican, criticized the lawsuit as a\u200d &#8220;political \u200cstunt&#8221; and defended \u2064the establishment of the Catholic school as a\u200b victory for religious and education\u2064 freedom. Stitt emphasized \u2063that parents should have the right to choose the best education for their \u2063children, regardless of \u2062income or religious \u200dpreference.<\/p>\n<p>Drummond, on\u200b the other hand, believes that taxpayer money should be focused on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/womens-march-complains-about-women-holding-more-student-debt-gets-math-wrong\/\" title=\"Women\u2019s March Complains About Women Holding More Student Debt, Gets Math Wrong\">improving educational outcomes<\/a> rather\u2063 than funding religious teachings. He argues that \u2062religion\u200c is best taught in homes and churches with the guidance of parents and pastors.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> What are the potential implications \u2063of the court&#8217;s \u2063decision in the lawsuit on the funding of religious \u2064education in other states<\/h2>\n<p><span>  Noreferrer&#8221;>Drummond said in \u2062the lawsuit.<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The lawsuit filed by Drummond challenges the\u2064 Oklahoma State Board of Education&#8217;s decision to authorize and provide\u200c funding for a new Catholic school in Mustang, a small city outside of Oklahoma\u200d City. The school, named Saint Eugene, would be the first \u200bpublicly funded religious school in the state, and possibly in the entire country.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit argues that the approval of\u200b this publicly funded religious school violates the Establishment Clause\u200b of the First Amendment to the\u200c United States Constitution, which prohibits the government from\u200d establishing or favoring \u2064any religion. Drummond contends that by providing public\u200d funds \u200dto support a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nypd-orders-entire-force-on-duty-ahead-of-pro-hamas-rallies\/\" title=\"NYPD mandates full force presence for upcoming Pro-Hamas rallies.\">religious\u2062 school<\/a>, the state is\u200b effectively promoting and endorsing a particular religious belief.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the constitutional concerns, Drummond \u200braises practical issues with the approval of the Catholic school. He claims \u200dthat using public funds for religious education\u200d would \u2062divert \u2063resources away from public\u2062 schools that are already struggling to meet the needs\u2062 of their students. Critics of publicly funded religious schools argue that such institutions often lack the same \u2064degree of accountability and \u2064oversight as public schools, putting taxpayer money at risk of being mismanaged \u200dor \u2064misused.<\/p>\n<p>Supporters of the \u2063Catholic school,\u2062 on the other hand, emphasize the importance of parental choice in education. They argue that parents should have the option to \u2062send\u200d their\u200d children to a school that aligns with their religious beliefs, and that public funds\u200d should be used to\u200b support this choice. \u2062They contend \u2064that public funds are already \u200cbeing\u200d used for various \u2063educational programs and initiatives, and providing \u2064funding for a religious school\u2063 is simply an\u2064 extension of that\u200b support.<\/p>\n<p>The outcome of this lawsuit \u200ccould have \u200cfar-reaching implications for the funding \u2064of religious\u2062 education across the country. If the court\u200c upholds Drummond&#8217;s argument and blocks the establishment\u200d of the publicly funded Catholic school, it could \u200dset\u2064 a precedent for similar challenges in other states. On\u2064 the\u200c other hand, if\u2064 the court rules \u200din favor\u2063 of the Catholic school, it could \u200bopen the door for the approval of more publicly funded religious\u200d schools in Oklahoma \u2063and beyond.<\/p>\n<p>As \u200dthe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/oklahoma-approves-first-religious-charter-school-in-united-states\/\" title=\"First religious charter school approved in Oklahoma.\">legal battle unfolds<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/oklahoma-attorney-general-sues-to-stop-first-public-religious-school-in-united-states\/\" title=\"Oklahoma AG sues to halt first US public religious school.\">debate \u200bsurrounding publicly funded\u200d religious schools<\/a> is likely to intensify. Advocates on both sides will make\u200c their case for what they believe is in the best interest of the \u200bstudents and the broader community. \u200dUltimately, it will be \u200bup \u200bto the courts to determine whether the \u200bestablishment of a publicly funded religious school is constitutional and in accordance with the principles of religious freedom and separation \u2062of church and state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oklahoma&#8217;s attorney general, Gentner Drummond, a Republican, filed a lawsuit on Oct. 20 to halt the establishment of the first publicly funded religious school in the US. He argued that approving a Catholic school would set a precedent for approving other religious schools. Drummond emphasized the need for intervention to prevent this from happening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":2075371,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2075370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2075370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2075370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2075370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2075371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2075370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2075370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2075370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}