‘Victory for educational freedom’: Federal court greenlights nation’s first religious charter school 

A federal district court gave the go-ahead for a Jewish school to participate in Oklahoma’s charter program after it was excluded because of its religious affiliation.

The ruling bars the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board from blocking the National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation from the state’s charter program as the lawsuit proceeds.

“Because the nonsectarian provision in the Oklahoma Charter Schools Act expressly discriminates against otherwise eligible recipients solely because of their religious character, it violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment,” wrote Judge David L. Russell of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma Thursday. 

“This is a victory for educational freedom, religious equality and families in Oklahoma,” Peter Deutsch, the founder of the National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation, said in a statement. “The state cannot single out religious schools for exclusion while welcoming everyone else into the charter school program. We’re eager to open wide the doors of educational opportunity in Oklahoma.” 

Yearslong legal fight

The ruling is the latest chapter in a broader, yearslong battle over whether religious schools can participate in Oklahoma’s publicly funded charter program.

In 2023, the state charter board approved the application of St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School but was promptly sued as opponents argued allowing a religious charter school violates the Establishment Clause. The Oklahoma Supreme Court ultimately agreed, holding that both federal and state law prohibit publicly funded religious schools. The case then made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where the justices in May 2025 deadlocked 4-4, leaving remaining constitutional questions unanswered.

Ben Gamla provides new legal vessel

Ben Gamla, which is based in Florida but would open a virtual school in Oklahoma, is seeking to provide a “rigorous academic education” including “instruction in Jewish religion, culture, values, rituals, texts, holidays, and practices,” court filings indicate. The “transmission of Jewish religious beliefs and practices to children is a core aspect of Ben Gamla’s religious mission,” the group acknowledges, but it would be open to students of all faith backgrounds.

Although the state charter school board supported Ben Gamla, it rejected the school’s application in March 2026, saying it was “unfortunately bound” by the state Supreme Court’s ruling in the St. Isidore case, as Heartlander News reported.

Ben Gamla’s legal path looks different from St. Isidore’s. St. Isidore was approved by the state, then challenged through the state court system. Ben Gamla was denied from the outset, so the group’s lawyers went straight to federal court, aiming to answer the underlying constitutional questions the Supreme Court’s tied decision left unresolved.

Thursday’s ruling – a preliminary injunction paving the way for Ben Gamla to become the nation’s first religious charter school as the lawsuit proceeds – received swift criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union and other civil rights groups that intervened in the case on behalf of seven Oklahoma residents.

“The court’s conclusion that a public charter school can be religious opens the door to a dangerous sea change for our democracy,” attorneys for the intervenors said in a statement. “Forcing taxpayers to fund religious public schools violates state and federal law.”

Yet religious liberty groups celebrated the district court’s decision, saying it will give Ben Gamla “a fair shot to serve Oklahoma families.”

“Sooner or later, Oklahoma’s discriminatory bar on religious charter schools was destined to fail,” Daniel Chen, senior counsel at Becket and attorney for Ben Gamla, said. “The Constitution doesn’t permit the state to welcome every kind of charter school except a religious one.”

First Liberty, which represents the state charter school board, praised the court’s ruling: “We’re grateful the court answered this important question of the law and agreed that enforcing a religious prohibition is a violation of the United States Constitution,” First Liberty counsel Holly Randall said.

Oklahoma and the intervenors in the case have 30 days to appeal it, according to Becket. The state charter school board will consider its next steps at an Oct. 12 board meeting, First Liberty executive general counsel Hiram Sasser told Heartlander News in an interview.

“Our client has always done two things. They had their position, which is they thought it was unconstitutional to discriminate, but they also had the philosophy that they had to follow court orders,” he said. “And so they were following the Oklahoma Supreme Court order. Even though they did not agree with it, they followed it. Now we have a new court order and we’ll have to go get the vote on that, and then we’ll go from there.”