{"id":2212392,"date":"2024-04-03T16:09:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-03T20:09:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/oklahoma-high-court-weighs-first-publicly-funded-religious-charter-school\/"},"modified":"2024-04-03T16:09:35","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T20:09:35","slug":"oklahoma-high-court-weighs-first-publicly-funded-religious-charter-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/oklahoma-high-court-weighs-first-publicly-funded-religious-charter-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Oklahoma Supreme Court considers the legality of the state&#8217;s first publicly funded religious charter 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\">30<\/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-high-court-weighs-first-publicly-funded-religious-charter-school%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=2212392&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--><p>The Oklahoma Supreme Court deliberates on using public \u2064funds for charter schools with \u200dreligious ties, potentially paving the way for \u2063the first publicly funded Catholic charter school in the \u200bU.S. The \u2062case involves a challenge to the approval of the\u2064 St. Isidore of\u2064 Seville Catholic Virtual Charter School by the state\u200b Attorney General,\u200c highlighting constitutional and policy debates. The Oklahoma Supreme\u2062 Court is currently considering the use of public\u2062 funds for charter schools with religious\u200d affiliations,\u2063 which could lead to the establishment of the first publicly funded Catholic\u2064 charter school in the United States. The \u2063case centers around the approval challenge of the St. Isidore of\u2063 Seville Catholic Virtual Charter School by the state Attorney General, raising important constitutional and policy discussions.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/oklahoma\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Oklahoma<\/a> Supreme Court heard arguments on Tuesday about whether public funds can be used to support <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/education\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>charter schools<\/a> with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/first-amendment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>religious affiliations<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>If the state Supreme Court rules in favor of the school, it could become the first Catholic charter school in the nation to operate with public money.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe U.S. Supreme Court has made it clear that states can\u2019t open up a program to private organizations but discriminate against religious groups,\u201d Phil Sechler, an Alliance Defending Freedom attorney who represents the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board in the case, told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> after oral arguments on Tuesday. \u201cNo state can infringe free exercise rights by actually imposing a greater separation of church and state than the establishment clause requires. That\u2019s exactly what\u2019s happened here because there\u2019s no question that the statute, the Charter Schools Act in Oklahoma, essentially says, \u2018Private organizations, you can apply and get a contract to operate a school, but you can\u2019t do it if you\u2019re religious.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Charter schools are privately run, publicly funded entities that are required by law to follow many of the same policies as fully public schools.<\/p>\n<p>The case arose when, on June 5, the charter school board voted 3-2 to approve an application from the Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City to allow the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual Charter School into the fold. <\/p>\n<p>Shortly thereafter, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, a Republican, challenged the approval based on the school\u2019s affiliation with the Catholic Church and a clause in the Charter Schools Act that imposes a \u201cnonsectarian\u201d condition on charter schools. Drummond also pointed to a provision in the Oklahoma Constitution barring the expenditure of public money, directly or indirectly, for religious purposes, and he noted a failed 2016 effort to change that.<\/p>\n<p>Drummond is at odds with Gov. Kevin Stitt (R-OK), who supports the school.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that they betrayed their oath of office,\u201d Drummond said in oral arguments of the Virtual Charter School Board\u2019s approval. \u201cAnd they knew they betrayed their oath of office because I told them if they did that, they would.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sechler said it was \u201creally shocking that he said that\u201d to the nine-judge panel, especially because Drummond\u2019s predecessor, Republican John O\u2019Connor, issued an <a href=\"https:\/\/oklahoma.gov\/content\/dam\/ok\/en\/governor\/documents\/Attorney%20General%20Opinion%202022-7.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>opinion<\/a> for the board not to enforce the nonsectarian condition of the Charter Schools Act because it is likely unconstitutional under current U.S. Supreme Court precedent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe State cannot enlist private organizations to \u2018promote a diversity of educational choices,\u2019 and then decide that any and every kind of religion is the wrong kind of diversity,\u201d O\u2019Connor\u2019s 2022 opinion said. \u201cThis is not how the First Amendment works.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Connor pointed to U.S. Supreme Court cases in 2017, 2020, and 2022 showing it is unlikely the nation\u2019s high court would accept an argument that a \u201cstate should be allowed to discriminate against religiously affiliated private participants who wish to establish and operate charter schools in accordance with their faith alongside other private participants.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That is because the funds that would be available to St. Isidore are generally available to a variety of private entities that meet the criteria for receiving public funds, and a religious school receiving funding is not an example of the government favoring one religion over another, as the establishment clause prohibits, because they would be similarly available to other affiliations if they met the same criteria. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe government should not be giving any special favors to religion, but it also shouldn\u2019t be hostile to religion,\u201d Sechler told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>. \u201cIf it\u2019s going to open up a program to groups that might be inclined to one point of view or the other, which it does, it can\u2019t say, \u2018But only secular points of view are welcome.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Currently, all 32 charter schools approved by the board are secular, and Sechler explained that the state\u2019s Virtual Charter School Board has been \u201cneutral toward religion: They didn\u2019t favor it, they didn\u2019t disfavor it, but they weren\u2019t hostile toward it.\u201d He added that the goal of the charter schools, in general, is that it is \u201cbetter for Oklahomans to have more choices\u201d and noted that attending a religion-affiliated school is not imposed on anyone.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While it remains a state dispute now, this case is viewed by many as having the potential to end up before the U.S. Supreme Court, and supporters of the school feel confident that the high court would rule in their favor given recent similar religious liberty decisions.<\/p>\n<p>While the Oklahoma Supreme Court gave no indication of timing, attorneys for St. Isidore said they are hopeful they will start receiving state funding on July 1. Classes will be open for Oklahoma students across the state for kindergarten through 12th grade in the fall.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Oklahoma Supreme Court deliberated if public funds can back charter schools with religious ties, possibly paving the way for the first publicly funded Catholic charter school in the U.S<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":2212393,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24093682735530-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2212392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24093682735530-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2212392","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\/179"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2212392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2212392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2212393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2212392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2212392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2212392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}