The Oklahoma State of education board is having to decide to consider approving the first religious charter school in the country. This move is likely to start a legal battle over the use of taxes in funding these religious schools, which are some of the concerns of those taxpayers.
Some charter schools have affiliations with religious organizations, but this proposed school would explicitly be religious, and religious instructions will also be included. The proposed school would be duly handled and managed by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa.
First Religious Charter School Could Spark Legal Battle
According to the article in Seattle Times, charter schools are also public schools only that they are independently managed, and the funds used in these schools are from the taxpayers. If this is going to be approved, the charter for St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School would probably lead to a legal dispute, which the school's administrators are expecting and perhaps enjoying.
They also expect that this move will spark a nationwide campaign to debilitate the detachment of the church and state and allow the use of public monies for religious schools, given the current preponderance of conservative judges on the Supreme Court. The proposal was created by the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma, which represents the Catholic Church in policy matters and is responsible for encouraging the courts to examine this topic and offer a conclusive resolution.
The states that the Republicans lead are urging to use taxes to fund private education, including universal vouchers approved in the five states last year. According to an article shared in Yahoo! News, with its 6-3 conservative majority, the Supreme Court has made clear in a number of recent decisions that it supports funding religious schools as part of its broader acceptance of religion in public life.
The Supreme Court held in 2020 and 2022 that religious institutions could not be excluded from state-run programs that let parents use government-funded scholarships or tuition schemes for private schools in Montana and Maine. Chief Justice John Roberts ruled that while although states did not have to fund religious education, they also were forbidden to discriminate against religious institutions that did so in each of the cases.
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The Right For Religious Freedom
Republican Ryan Walters, the state's elected superintendent of public instruction, was present while the proposed religious charter school was discussed. According to EdWeek, Walters indicated his approval of the application and his conviction that Oklahoma is a state that upholds children's rights and religious freedom. He also criticized individuals who opposed the school, charging them with assaulting religious freedoms and harboring animosity toward the Catholic Church.
Franklin, a different attendee, drew attention to the fact that Protestant preachers and other individuals who appeared to be cordial in their demeanor had previously criticized the St. Isidore application. Franklin informed Walters that he was unaware of any extreme viewpoints or criticisms of the Catholic Church.
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