Dive Brief:
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The Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board voted unanimously this week to rescind its contract with St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, which was set to become the nation's first religious public charter school. The vote comes nearly two months after the state Supreme Court directed the board to do so.
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However, the board left open the possibility that the contract with St. Isidore could be reinstated if the U.S. Supreme Court reverses the state court's decision against the charter school.
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While the case is expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court, it has a slim chance of being taken up by the justices. St. Isidore's attorneys have until around late September to file a petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court.
Dive Insight:
Every term, the Supreme Court receives 7,000 to 8,000 petitions for a writ of certiorari, or requests to weigh in on cases. Out of those, the court agrees to hear only about 80.
In recent years, however, the nation’s highest court has weighed in on similar topics that have increasingly blurred the lines between church and state.
In fact, it was two Supreme Court cases decided in recent years that prompted St. Isidore’s creation — Carson v. Makin and Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue — by allowing private institutions to have access to public funding regardless of the institutions’ religious status or the funds’ sectarian use.
At the time, public education advocates voiced concerns that the decisions invited the creation of religious charter schools.
St. Isidore was scheduled to open this fall and had already begun admitting students and hiring staff. It had received over 200 student applications prior to the state Supreme Court decision in June, according to the website.
The board's vote to rescind its contract with the school comes after attorneys for the school filed a motion to stay with the Oklahoma Supreme Court, hoping to preserve the contract in case the U.S. Supreme Court reverses the state court's decision to sever it.
The request would not have permitted St. Isidore to open or receive public funding, which has already been cut off from the school.
The Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board also voted late last month to appeal the U.S. Supreme Court's decision, stepping in place of the previous Statewide Virtual Charter School Board that was disbanded at the end of June as a result of recent legislation. State Superintendent Ryan Walters — who pushed for Oklahoma schools to teach the Bible just days after the state Supreme Court's decision against the religious charter school — is also part of the new board.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who filed a lawsuit against the religious charter school, said its creation "represents a serious threat to the religious liberty" of Oklahomans. “While it is appalling that the Board took so long to recognize the authority of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, I am pleased that board members finally fulfilled their duty," he said in a statement Monday.
Drummond has repeatedly voiced concern against the school because of the slippery slope it creates to fund other faith-based schools.
“Today, Oklahomans are being compelled to fund Catholicism. Because of the legal precedent created by the Board’s actions, tomorrow we may be forced to fund radical Muslim teachings like Sharia law,” Drummond said in a statement when filing the lawsuit in October 2023.
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