(The Lion) — The United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that could result in public funds being used for a religious charter school, something unprecedented in the U.S.
The high court agreed Friday to take the case involving the virtual Catholic charter school, which will be argued in late April and decided by early summer, the Associated Press reported, in time for the 2025-26 school year. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a devout Catholic, is not taking part in the case, but did not explain why.
The Oklahoma Archdiocese had planned to open the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School for the 2024-25 school year with about 200 students, but the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled 7-1 that using public dollars for a religious school would violate the First Amendment prohibition on government making a law “respecting an establishment of religion.”
In that ruling, Justice Dana Kuehn, who issued the lone dissenting opinion, argued that to block the school solely because it was religious would violate the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious freedom, AP reported.
The Statewide Virtual Charter School Board approved the school’s application by a 3-2 vote in 2023. Lawsuits ensued, including from religious groups both for and opposed to it. Even the state’s Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, who supports the school, was opposed by Republican Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who argues it would violate the Constitution.
The case is officially named Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond.
Jim Campbell, chief counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing the state board that approved the school, called the case of the utmost importance to families and children in Oklahoma and throughout the country.
“Oklahoma parents and children are better off with more educational choices, not fewer,” he said in a release from the Alliance. “The U.S. Constitution protects St. Isidore’s freedom to operate according to its faith and supports the board’s decision to approve such learning options for Oklahoma families. There’s great irony in state officials who claim to be in favor of religious liberty discriminating against St. Isidore because of its Catholic beliefs.”
The release also said the U.S. Supreme Court has “repeatedly held that religious groups cannot be excluded from generally available programs solely because of their religious character,” giving hope that the legal appeal will be successful.
Oklahoma has been a hotbed of conservative education reform of late, with education Superintendent Ryan Walters buying Bibles for schools, urging schools to pray and billing the Biden-Harris administration $475 million to pay for educating illegal immigrants. He has also come out in favor of St. Isidore.
If the school is approved, the Sooner State would once again be at the cutting edge of religious and education reforms.
