Supreme Court to Decide Fate of Religious Charter School
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Friday to hear a case challenging the creation of the nation’s first taxpayer-funded religious charter school, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, in Oklahoma. The bid is led by two Catholic dioceses, and the case is set to test the boundaries of the separation of church and state.
A lower court had blocked the school’s establishment, ruling that its funding arrangement violated the First Amendment’s prohibition against government endorsement of religion. The Supreme Court will now consider an appeal from the Oklahoma State School Board and the organisers of the proposed school. The case is expected to be argued in the coming months and decided by the end of June.
St. Isidore, planned as a partnership between the Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa, would offer virtual learning from kindergarten through high school. However, it has not yet begun operation due to ongoing legal challenges. According to Nicole Garnett, a Notre Dame Law School professor who has represented the school’s organisers, St. Isidore aims to be the first religious charter school in the U.S. While some charter schools have ties to religious institutions, Garnett noted, their curricula have been secular. “St. Isidore would teach religion as the truth of the matter,” she said.
Charter schools in Oklahoma are considered public schools and are funded by the state. St. Isidore’s organisers estimate it would cost Oklahoma taxpayers up to $25.7 million over its first five years.
The Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal group representing the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board, praised the Supreme Court’s decision to hear the case. “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,” said Jim Campbell, the group’s chief legal counsel.
Meanwhile, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, an organisation advocating for the separation of church and state, announced it would file a brief with the Court to oppose taxpayer-funded religious education. “We represent our members’ opposition to being forced as taxpayers to support religious education/indoctrination,” the group said on social media.
The proposed school has sparked division among Oklahoma’s top officials. In December 2022, former Attorney General John O’Connor, a Republican, supported the legal basis for the religious charter school, an opinion backed by Republican Governor Kevin Stitt.
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However, O’Connor’s successor, Attorney General Gentner Drummond, reversed that stance in February 2023, arguing that using religious liberty to justify state-funded religion was a misapplication of constitutional principles.
Drummond sued to block the school in October 2023, asserting that he had a duty to protect religious liberty and prevent the kind of state-funded religion the framers of Oklahoma’s constitution and the U.S. founders sought to avoid.
In June 2024, Oklahoma’s highest court ruled against St. Isidore’s creation, finding that its funding arrangement violated both state law and the First Amendment’s establishment clause, which prohibits government endorsement of religion.
The court argued that the proposed school used state funds to benefit the Catholic Church, further concluding that the school could not be considered a private entity exempt from First Amendment constraints.
Supporters of secularism have argued that religious charter schools would violate legal limits on government involvement in religious activities.
Conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a former Notre Dame Law School professor, recused herself from the Court’s decision to hear the case. The conservative majority on the Court has expanded religious rights in recent years.
In 2022, the Court ruled in favour of two Christian families challenging Maine’s tuition assistance program, which had excluded private religious schools. Similarly, in 2020, the Court upheld Montana tax credits for religious schools, and in a 2017 Missouri case, it ruled that religious entities cannot be denied public funding even in states with constitutional bans on such support.
Content Credit| Agbetan Bisola
Picture Credit | https://www.brookings.edu/
