The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed suit Monday attempting to block the Oklahoma from opening the US’s first religious charter school. The proposed charter school, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, would be run by the Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City.
The suit, filed by the ACLU on behalf of several Oklahoma residents, argues that a religious charter school violates Oklahoma’s state constitution. The ACLU cites several provisions of the Oklahoma constitution including Article I Section 5, which requires the state to provide schools “free of sectarian control.” The ACLU also cites to Article I Section 2 and Article II Section 5, which prevent proselytizing by state actors and public money from benefiting religious institutions, respectively.
The ACLU’s suit also argues that the school violates the Charter Schools Act, which requires that schools are “nonsectarian” and adequately support students with disabilities—both of which the lawsuit alleges St. Isidore will not do based on its application. The lawsuit also alleges that the new school did not have the required notarization in its application, will discriminate against non-Catholic children and will discriminate in employment against non-Catholic applicants. The suit concludes:
[T]he [Virtual Charter School] Board’s approval of St. Isidore’s revised application was unconstitutional and unlawful; any contract between the Board and St. Isidore allowing St. Isidore to operate as a charter school would be unconstitutional and unlawful; any operation of St. Isidore as a charter school would be unconstitutional and unlawful; any provision of State Aid allocations or other state funding to St. Isidore would be unconstitutional and unlawful; and any spending by St. Isidore of State Aid allocations or other state funding to support its operations would be unconstitutional and unlawful.
In a press release announcing the suit, the Director of the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief Daniel Mach stated, “The very idea of a religious public school is a constitutional oxymoron. Charter schools, like all public schools, must be open to all students, and they must be free from religious indoctrination.” The Reverend Dr. Mitch Randall, one of the plaintiffs in the suit, commented, “As an Indigenous person and great-grandson of a boarding school resident at Chilocco, [Oklahoma], it is appalling to think state leaders would reopen a door to a time when tax dollars were used to publicly fund the advancement of religion.”
A charter school is a school that parents and guardians can choose, rather than be assigned to as in traditional US public schools. They are publicly funded yet run by an independent group or organization rather than employees of the school district or state. The concept is fairly new and has only existed for about 25 years. However, charter schools have proliferated across the US with millions of students now attending them, both online and in person. In exchange for public funds, the schools must adhere to a “charter” that the state and school agree to before dispersing funds. While many charter schools are run by nonprofits, some states do allow for-profit companies to either run or manage the schools. Charter schools have been of particular concern as of late with studies showing minimal educational gain and scandals abounding across the country.
