WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday effectively ended a publicly funded Catholic charter school in Oklahoma, dividing 4-4.
The outcome keeps in place an Oklahoma court decision that invalidated a vote by a state charter school board to approve the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, which would have been the nation’s first religious charter school.
Proponents of publicly funded religious charter schools were quick to point out that the decision was limited to Oklahoma.
“The very idea of a religious public school is a constitutional oxymoron.
The Supreme Court’s ruling affirms that a religious school can’t be a public school and a public school can’t be religious,” said Daniel Mach, director of the ACLU’s Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief.
WASHINGTON (AP) — By voting 4–4, the Supreme Court on Thursday essentially shut down a publicly supported Catholic charter school in Oklahoma.
A court ruling in Oklahoma that declared a state charter school board’s vote to approve the St. The first religious charter school in the country would have been the Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. However, it does not resolve the issue on a national level.
One of the most closely watched cases of the term comes to an unsatisfactory conclusion with the court’s one-sentence notice.
Listen: A case regarding the use of public funds for Catholic charter schools is being heard by the Supreme Court.
The Oklahoma Catholic Church had requested that taxpayer money be used to support the online charter school that was “true to the teachings of Jesus Christ.”. Opponents cautioned that permitting it would undermine the rules governing charter schools in practically every state, erode funding for public schools, and obfuscate the line between church and state.
Of the nine justices, only eight participated in the case. Although Justice Amy Coney Barrett did not provide an explanation for her absence, she formerly taught alongside and is good friends with Nicole Garnett, a law professor at Notre Dame who has served as the school’s adviser.
All nine justices might be able to take part if the matter ever comes back to the high court.
As is customary, the court did not disclose the vote breakdown. The three liberal justices appeared equally adamantly opposed to the school, while the four conservative justices appeared likely to support it during last month’s arguments.
READ MORE: Oklahoma schools’ reactions to a new Bible requirement.
The key vote then seemed to be held by Chief Justice John Roberts, who apparently sided with the liberals to reach a 4-4 decision.
Attempts to introduce religion into public schools, primarily in states with conservative governors, brought the case before the court. These include a requirement from the state school superintendent of Oklahoma that the Bible be put in public school classrooms and a challenged Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in classrooms.
In St. With evangelizing students to the Catholic faith as part of its mission, Isidore, a K–12 online school, had intended to begin classes for its first 200 students last fall.
One of the main unanswered questions is whether the school is private or public. In Oklahoma, the other forty-five states, and the District of Columbia, where they are operational, charter schools are considered public. Legislation permitting charter schools was recently passed in North Dakota.
They are open and free to everyone, receive state funding, follow antidiscrimination laws, and are subject to testing and curriculum oversight. However, they are also governed by separate boards that are not affiliated with the public school systems in the area.
Supporters of religious charter schools that receive public funding quickly noted that the ruling only applied to Oklahoma.
“More educational options, not fewer, are better for Oklahoma parents and kids. Jim Campbell, who represented Oklahoma’s charter school board in the case at the Supreme Court, stated that although the court’s ruling is disappointing for educational freedom, the 4-4 ruling does not establish precedent, enabling the court to consider this matter again in the future. Campbell serves as the head of Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal group that frequently represents clients in court on well-known social issues.
On the other hand, organizations that represent parents and other opponents of the school in a different lawsuit, including Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the American Civil Liberties Union, praised the decision for protecting public education.
An oxymoron in the constitution is the concept of a religious public school itself. The ACLU’s Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief director, Daniel Mach, stated that the Supreme Court’s decision upholds the prohibitions against both religious and public schools.
Different opinions were also expressed by Oklahoma officials.
Republican Gov. The battle is far from over, according to Kevin Stitt and Ryan Walters, the state school superintendent. “Justice Barrett will break the tie in another case similar to this one,” Stitt stated.
To stop the school, Republican attorney general Gentner Drummond filed a lawsuit. The 4-4 vote, which he described as “a resounding victory for religious liberty,” will also guarantee that “Oklahoma taxpayers will not be forced to fund radical Islamic schools, while protecting the religious rights of families to choose any school they wish for their children.”. “.”.
“We have statement after statement by the attorney general that reeks of hostility toward Islam,” said Justice Samuel Alito during the arguments. “”.
