The United States Supreme Court is poised to address a contentious issue regarding the establishment of religious charter schools, with a specific focus on St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual Charter School in Oklahoma. The case mirrors past debates about the allocation of public funds to religious entities within the educational sector.
St. Isidore aims to be the first religious charter school in the country, having secured initial approval from the Oklahoma charter school board in 2023. The board’s approval came through a contract allowing the school to blend its educational operations with Catholic teachings. However, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled against the board’s decision, stating that it contravenes state laws mandating charter schools remain non-religious, in line with the state constitution and the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution. According to SCOTUSblog, the state court determined St. Isidore to be a public school, which must abstain from integrating religious education into its curriculum as prohibited by the state charter-school law.
The Oklahoma charter school board and St. Isidore have approached the United States Supreme Court to overturn the state’s decision, drawing upon similar cases that have ruled in favor of religious institutions seeking access to public funding. Notably, in recent years, the country’s highest court has sided with religious organizations in analogous situations. For instance, it struck down a Montana policy barring religious schools from participating in a tax-credit program and a Maine policy excluding religious schools from public tuition funding. The charter school board argues that denying St. Isidore funding due to its religious affiliation contravenes the Free Exercise Clause by unfairly discriminating against them based on religious status.
Oklahoma’s Attorney General, Gentner Drummond, who argued the case before the state’s Supreme Court, maintains that religious charter schools would challenge existing distinctions between public and private educational funding. Drummond asserts that charter schools, by their very nature, are public schools and must remain secular, as they receive government oversight and funding. Allowing St. Isidore to operate as a religious institution could disrupt both state and federal charter school frameworks, which require charter schools to remain nonsectarian to qualify for public funding.
The case hinges on whether charter schools like St. Isidore should be classified as state actors or government entities, echoing an early argument by the board that the 1982 Supreme Court decision in Rendell-Baker v. Kohn supports their standing as independently operated schools albeit with public funding. The outcome could have significant implications for the charter school sector across the United States, potentially reshaping the boundaries between public funding and religious education. With one justice recused, a split decision at the Supreme Court would uphold the Oklahoma ruling, maintaining the state’s prohibition of religious charter schools.