Challengers hope to block virtual Catholic charter school from receiving public funds

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — A new effort is underway to stop the nation's first publicly-funded religious charter school, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual Charter School, from operating in Oklahoma.

On Friday, faith leaders, public education advocates, and public school parents asked the District Court of Oklahoma County to issue a temporary injunction against St. Isidore to prevent public tax dollars from going to a private religious institution.

St. Isidore of Seville Virtual Charter School was approved 3-2 by the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board in October 2023. After its approval, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond filed a lawsuit, which has made its way to the state Supreme Court.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union, Education Law Center, and Freedom From Religion Foundation, as well as Oklahoma-based counsel Odom & Sparks PLLC and J. Douglas Mann are representing the plaintiffs in the case against St. Isidore.

The organizations released the following joint statement on Friday:

Oklahoma’s public schools must remain free from discrimination and religious indoctrination. And Oklahoma taxpayers, including our plaintiffs, should not be forced to financially support a religion that many of them do not share. The law is clear, and we’re hopeful the courts will soon agree: Charter schools are public schools that must be secular and serve all students.

Nothing prevents St. Isidore from operating as a private religious school. But because St. Isidore plans to discriminate against students, families, and staff and indoctrinate students into one religion, it cannot operate as a public charter school. To protect public education, the separation of church and state, and all Oklahomans’ religious freedom, it’s crucial that the court prevent the state from funding St. Isidore and recognizing it as a public charter school until decisions have been reached in the cases brought by our plaintiffs and the attorney general.