The United States Supreme Court is once again poised to weigh in on the intersection of religious freedom and education, as it prepares to hear oral arguments in the case Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond on April 30, 2025. The case centers around whether Oklahoma can exclude religious institutions from participating in its charter school program—a question deeply rooted in the protections offered by the free exercise clause of the First Amendment.
In 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court set a clear precedent that government programs cannot exclude religious groups. This was affirmed in notable cases such as Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Comer, Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, and Carson v. Makin, which collectively have established that religious institutions should not face exclusion from state benefits available to secular entities.
In Oklahoma, the state’s charter school board initially approved St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, a religious institution, to join the charter program—making it the first religious charter school in the United States. However, the state Attorney General challenged this decision, leading to an Oklahoma Supreme Court decision that deemed such a move unconstitutional.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court’s ruling suggests that religious charter schools function as state actors, a characterization that diverges from previous federal rulings such as Rendell-Baker v. Kohn. In that decision, the Court noted that schools receiving government funding do not become government entities, regardless of funding levels.
This litigation not only threatens St. Isidore’s position within the charter program but also raises broader questions about the involvement of faith-based organizations in public service sectors across the nation. Concern arises that if such organizations are deemed government actors, they may face challenges in providing essential community services, limiting their positive societal impact.
Proponents of religious charter schools argue that excluding them from state programs would unjustly deprive families of valuable educational options. St. Isidore plans to offer a curriculum that has achieved remarkable outcomes, with a high graduation rate and college admissions success, particularly benefiting lower-income and rural students who might lack access to alternative educational resources.
This forthcoming decision could have significant implications. With current Supreme Court precedent as a guiding framework, religious charter schools may soon find affirmation of their eligibility for state programs, aligning with constitutional guarantees of religious freedom and preventing potential discrimination.