An Oklahoma school board will decide Tuesday whether to approve the first publicly funded religious charter school in the United States, a move proponents say aligns with Supreme Court rulings empowering religious rights.
The Statewide Virtual Charter School Board will vote on the Catholic Church's application to form St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, which is described as an online school for kindergarten through high school with plans to sustain 1,500 students.
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Brett Farley, an executive director of the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma who backs the application, said St. Isidore's main goal is to meet the needs of rural families who are seeking a Catholic education but do not live near physical schools.
"In most rural areas, with some rare exceptions, the local public school is the only game in town," Farley told the Washington Examiner. "Some of those schools are great, some of them are not. And especially, when we look at areas like special needs, kids are really being underserved across the state."
Farley contends three Supreme Court decisions over the last decade have paved the way for new publicly funded religious schools.
In a ruling deciding a case from Maine, the court supported two Christian families who challenged the state's tuition-assistance program that had excluded private religious schools. The state previously excluded schools from eligibility if they presented materials "through the lens" of a particular religion, though the justices found the state must pay for students enrolled in religious schools if it paid for students in private secular schools.
And in 2020, the Supreme Court backed Montana tax credits that help pay for students to attend religious schools. The justices also ruled in 2017 that religious groups cannot be denied public funds, even if a state's constitution explicitly forbids such funding.
Meanwhile, the application has been criticized by secular opponents who warned of the consequences of allowing publicly funded religious schools, such as the Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Rachel Laser, the president of the advocacy group, said that "Americans need to wake up to the reality that religious extremists are coming for our public schools."
St. Isidore would cost Oklahoma taxpayers up to $25.7 million over the first five years of operation, according to its organizers. In response to criticism over its use of public funds, Farley said, "The more options you give to parents, the better off all of us are, including public schools."
Farley added that's "true for any market," saying the same principle applies if other faith-based groups filed for an application in the state.
Gov. Kevin Stitt (R-OK) lauded the Maine decision last year, and the state's then-Attorney General John O'Connor wrote in December that the rulings would effectively permit religious charter schools.
But in February, current Attorney General Gentner Drummond withdrew O'Connor's opinion and said it "misuses the concept of religious liberty by employing it as a means to justify state-funded religion."
If the application is accepted, it will "almost certainly be challenged by public school groups that don't believe taxpayer dollars should go to fund sectarian education," Drummond told NPR this week.
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The board is a state entity that decides on applications for publicly funded but independently run charter schools operating virtually in the Sooner State. Composed of five members in total, the application needs three votes from the board in order to gain approval.
A livestream of the vote will be made available just before the board convenes at 2 p.m. CST Tuesday.