Supreme Court Agrees to Review Oklahoma Ruling Against Publicly Funded Religious Charter School

The U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Jan. 15, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 24 agreed to review a state court ruling denying authorization for the nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school.

The nation’s highest court granted the petition in an unsigned order. The court did not explain its decision, and no justices dissented.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett did not participate in the case, and the court did not explain her recusal.

The school concerned is the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School (SISVC), a K–12 school in Oklahoma City approved by the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board.

A charter school is a school that accepts funding from the government but operates independently, outside of the established state school system where it is located.

The petition that was filed in October 2024 said the Oklahoma Charter Schools Act permits most “private organizations” to found charter schools by making a contract with a sponsor, but religious organizations are not eligible.

“A sponsor may not authorize a charter school or program that is affiliated with a nonpublic sectarian school or religious institution,” the statute states. The charter school has to be “nonsectarian in its programs, admission policies, employment practices, and all other operations.”

The petition said the Oklahoma constitution provides that the state should maintain a “system of public schools ... free from sectarian control.’”

In 2023, the Catholic nonprofit corporation St. Isidore of Seville Virtual Charter School Inc. was founded by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa, according to the petition. The charter school offers “a learning opportunity for students who want and desire a quality Catholic education, but for reasons of accessibility to a brick-and-mortar location or due to cost, cannot currently make it a reality.”

The board approved the school’s application in June 2023. As one board member said at the time, the board had to approve the application because failing to do so would violate the U.S. Constitution’s free exercise clause, which all board members had sworn to uphold, according to the petition.

The respondent in the U.S. Supreme Court case, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, sued in October 2023, asking the Oklahoma Supreme Court to force the cancellation of the school’s contract and declare the contract in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s establishment clause, state law, and the state constitution.

Drummond argued that the authorization of the school had to be canceled or the state would receive “requests to directly fund all petitioning sectarian groups,” and this could include “extreme sects of the Muslim faith to establish a taxpayer funded public charter school teaching Sharia Law.” This could “pave the way for proliferation of the direct public funding of religious schools whose tenets are diametrically opposed by most Oklahomans,” according to the petition.

On June 25, 2024, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled against the school, ordering the board to rescind the contract and finding that the school was a governmental entity. Because the school was deemed a state actor, denying the school charter status did not contradict the free exercise clause, the court determined.

The state court also found that St. Isidore’s contract with the board violated the Oklahoma constitution’s prohibition against “using public money for the benefit or support of any religious institution.”

Drummond urged the U.S. Supreme Court not to grant the petition in a brief filed on Dec. 9, 2024.

There is no split among the federal courts of appeals on the issues involved in the case, the brief said.

After the U.S. Supreme Court granted the petition, Drummond spokesman Phil Bacharach told The Epoch Times, “The Office of the Attorney General looks forward to presenting our arguments before the Supreme Court.”

SISVC said in a statement on its website that the school was “grateful the U.S. Supreme Court has taken on this religious liberty case.”

“We look forward to the opportunity to present the case in the highest court in the land, with the hope we can soon provide a premium, virtual Catholic education to Oklahoma families,” it stated.

An attorney with the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which represents the petitioner, the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board, said he was pleased the U.S. Supreme Court will hear the case.

“Oklahoma parents and children are better off with more educational choices, not fewer. There’s great irony in state officials who claim to be in favor of religious liberty discriminating against St. Isidore because of its Catholic beliefs,” ADF Chief Legal Counsel Jim Campbell said in a statement.

“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.”

It is unclear when the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the new case.

The case came as the high court has become increasingly receptive in recent years to constitutional arguments that favor religious schools.

In 2022, the court voted 6–3 to strike down as unconstitutional a Maine law that excluded families from a student aid program if they chose to send their children to religious schools.

In a 5–4 decision in 2020, the court held that Montana’s decision to exclude religious schools from a state scholarship program funded by tax credits violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.