Supreme Court to weigh funding of religious charter schools

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a case involving a Catholic school’s attempt to participate in Oklahoma’s charter school program. St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School in 2023 applied to be part of the state’s virtual charter school system. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond in late 2023 filed a lawsuit against the school board for its decision to approve St. Isidore, which is based in Oklahoma City, as a statewide virtual charter school. Drummond argued that state law and the U.S. Constitution bar public tax dollars from being used for religious instruction.

What has happened in the case so far? The Oklahoma Supreme Court in June 2024 sided with Drummond, finding that public schools must not be affiliated with any one religious group. The court ordered the school district to rescind St. Isidore’s contract. The school and its board of education in October petitioned the country’s highest court to take up the case. Lawyers with Alliance Defending Freedom argued that religious groups cannot be excluded from generally available public programs solely because of their religious character. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt and a coalition of eight states in November filed briefs in support of the school.

Dig deeper: Read Josh Schumacher’s report about the state Supreme Court ruling against the school.