Oklahoma Supreme Court Rules Charter School Is Public School, Can’t Skirt Religion Rules
From Forbes.com
Another court rules on whether charter schools are public schools.
It has been a little more than a year since Oklahoma approved the nation’s first religious charter school. Tuesday, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that charter violates the state constitution, and its approval must be rescinded.
St. Isidore was intended to be the nation’s first Catholic charter school, and approval by the state virtual charter school board sparked a wave of objections.
Nina Rees, at the time the President and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, disagreed with the decision. Arguing that charter schools are meant to be public schools and therefor “must be non-sectarian.” Rees says, “The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City is trying to make charter schools into something they are not.”
Also vocal in opposition was GOP Attorney General Gentner Drummond. The decision to approve the religious charter was okayed by his predecessor, John O’Connor. Drummond argued that the O’Connor opinion “misuses the concept of religious liberty by employing it as a means to justify state-funded religion. If allowed to remain in force, I fear the opinion will be used as a basis for taxpayer-funded religious schools.” Oklahomans, he argued, would soon find themselves forced to fund charters that promoted religions to which they objected. Drummond was the petitioner before the state supreme court.
Here’s the bottom line from the court:
The State’s establishment of a religious charter school violates Oklahoma statutes Oklahoma Constitution, and the Establishment Clause. St. Isidore cannot justify existence by invoking Free Exercise rights as religious entity. St. Isidore came into existence through its charter with the State and will function as a component of the state’s public school system. The case turns on the State’s contracted-for religious teachings and activities through a new public charter school, not the State’s exclusion of a religious entity.