The Oklahoma Supreme Court has issued a ruling that bars the establishment of St. Isidore of Seville Virtual Charter School, the first publicly-funded religious charter school in the United States, on the grounds that it violates both the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and provisions of the Oklahoma State Constitution. The decision has significant implications for the intersection of public funding and religious education.
On Tuesday, the court concluded that the contract to create St. Isidore breached the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which prohibits governmental actions that unduly favor one religion over another. This clause is applicable to state governments via the Fourteenth Amendment. The ruling referenced legal precedents which clarify that state actions cannot support or aid any religious activity, which the court found to be the case with St. Isidore’s requirement for students to engage in religious teachings and co-curricular programs.
The court also pointed out that the state’s Charter School Board’s role in overseeing the school’s performance and compliance with legal standards established a level of “entwinement” with governmental policies, effectively making St. Isidore a state actor. Additionally, the court applied the “public function” test, noting that providing a free public education is considered a fundamental public function according to the Oklahoma Constitution, thus making any privately-managed entity conducting this function subject to constitutional constraints.
Furthermore, St. Isidore’s contract was found to be in conflict with Article 2, § 5 of the Oklahoma Constitution, which prohibits the use of public funds for religious purposes. The court emphasized that charter schools, by definition, must remain non-sectarian in their admissions and program offerings as per Article 1, § 5 of the Oklahoma Constitution.
The ruling was hailed by the Americans United for Separation of Church and State, who remarked that the decision “safeguards public education and upholds the separation of religion and government.” This case comes amid broader national debates on the role of religion in publicly-funded education, exemplified by recent legislative developments in other states, such as Louisiana’s bill mandating the display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms.
For further details, you can access the official ruling here.