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Doug Hoke/The Oklahoman

A state board in Oklahoma on Monday approved a contract with St. Isidore of Seville Virtual Charter School, bringing the institution one step closer to becoming the first publicly-funded religious charter school in the nation.

The Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezKnoyhsKJI&ab_channel=OklahomaStatewideVirtualCharterSchoolBoard" target=_blank>voted 3-2 for<b> </b>the contract</a>, despite opposition from the state’s attorney general and a lawsuit that seeks to stop the school from opening.

The school is set to open in the fall of 2024. If it happens, it would represent a new model in education: a tuition-free school with a religious curriculum that is funded largely with taxpayer dollars.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City applied to open the charter school in the state knowing it would invite controversy and litigation. In its application, the archdiocese said the school would follow federal laws only if they did not conflict with church doctrine, opening questions as to whether it would educate openly LGBTQ+ students.

Oklahoma Catholics could open the door for religious charter schools

The archdiocese also said it intended to operate St. Isidore much like a private Catholic school, serving as a “as a genuine instrument of the Church.” It plans to lead students to “know that Human persons are destined for life with the Holy Trinity … but that in freedom, an individual may reject God’s invitation and … end up in Hell,” it said in its application.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond (R) in February warned the virtual charter school board against approving the application for a religious charter school. He said it would create a dangerous precedent where any religious group — not just Catholic or Christian ones — could open a charter school.

“While many Oklahomans undoubtedly support charter schools sponsored by various Christian faiths, the precedent created by approval of the … application will compel approval of similar applications by all faiths,” Drummond <a href="https://www.oag.ok.gov/sites/g/files/gmc766/f/documents/2023/rebecca_wilkinson_ag_opinion_2022-7_virtual_charter_schools.pdf" target=_blank>wrote in a legal opinion</a>, “even those most Oklahomans would consider reprehensible and unworthy of public funding.”

After the board approved the application in June, it was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/07/31/lawsuit-oklahoma-st-isidore-charter-school/" target=_blank>sued by a group of parents, education activists and clergy members</a>, who argued the school, were it allowed to open, would violate the state’s constitution, which requires public schools to be nonsectarian. The state law governing charter schools also requires the institutions to be nonsectarian. The plaintiffs — represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, the Education Law Center and the Freedom From Religion Foundation — said the state would be forcing taxpayers to subsidize the Catholic Church’s mission of evangelization.

Lawsuit aims to halt the opening of nation’s first religious charter school

The Oklahoma State Department of Education filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit last month. Ryan Walters, the state superintendent of public instruction and head of the department, said in a statement at the time that denying the church’s application is religious discrimination.

“Those who would sue to abridge the freedom of Americans to freely exercise their religion stand against 400 years of religious tolerance in America, predating the United States itself,” Walters said. “I will fight to protect the freedom of all Oklahomans enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and Oklahoma laws, especially in our schools.”

Robert Franklin was one of the virtual charter school board members who voted Monday against approving the contract for St. Isidore. He said he believed he would be violating his oath to defend the state constitution if he voted in favor of the contract.

“I am very concerned about the oath that I took just like everybody else to uphold the state charter school act and the state’s constitution,” Franklin said during the meeting. “It’s very, very problematic and it does not align well.”

American University, MA in journalism and public affairs

University of Oregon, BS in journalism

Moriah Balingit is an education reporter for The Washington Post, where she has worked since 2014. She previously covered crime, city hall and crime in city hall at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 