Oklahoma Attorney General Sues To Stop Nation’s First Religious Charter School

From Forbes. com. The story so far, and the newest development.

Attorney General Gentner Drummond has fought every step of the way against the movement to create the nation’s first taxpayer-funded religious charter school, and he’s not giving up yet.

Last December, Oklahoma’s former Attorney General John O'Connor issued an opinion stating that in light of recent Supreme Court decisions, he believes that the SCOTUS would "very likely" find unconstitutional the state requirement that charter schools be non-sectarian. The Catholic Church was ready to test that theory; it was in anticipation of their application that the state’s virtual charter board asked the O’Connor for an opinion in the first place.

The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City collaborated with the Diocese of Tulsa to propose a virtual charter—St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, named for a sixth-century catholic bishop and scholar, who is patron saint of the internet (a "saint who can help us find what we need as well as protect us from the darker side of the World Wide Web").

There was no question of the church’s intent. An AP report noted, “Archdiocese officials have been unequivocal that the school will promote the Catholic faith and operate according to church doctrine, including its views on sexual orientation and gender identity.”

AG John O’Connor was a Trump nominee for a United States district judge in 2018; the American Bar Association rated him “not qualified,” and his nomination was withdrawn. After Oklahoma’s previous attorney general resigned in May of 2021 over “personal matters,” Governor Stitt appointed O’Connor to the office. O’Connor ran for the office this year and was defeated in the primary, making him a lame duck in the office when he offered his opinion.

The Republican who defeated him was Gentner Drummond. Once in office, Drummond said he was out to “right the direction of the state” and started undoing some of his predecessor’s work. He dropped a lawsuit against Class Wallet that blamed them for mishandling public funds, and he reversed the AG opinion about the legality of a religious charter school.

He’s been fighting that religious charter movement ever since. Read the full piece for latest developments.