Oklahoma Supreme Court rules that taxpayer-funded religious charter school is unconstitutional

The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that a specifically religious charter school is unconstitutional, because charter schools receive public funding.

An Oklahoma school board created the country's first religious charter school last year, after the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board approved the creation of St. Isidore of Seville Virtual Charter School in a 3-2 vote, per NBC News.

The state Supreme Court determined that this institution violates both the state's and country's constitution and must be secular.

“Under Oklahoma law, a charter school is a public school,” the court wrote. “As such, a charter school must be nonsectarian. However, St. Isidore will evangelize the Catholic school curriculum while sponsored by the state.”

The school board's decision was previously was supported by Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, and State Superintendent Ryan Walters.

The school intended to accept students from K-12 and evangelize them in the Catholic faith. But the school's creation was sued by a group of faith leaders, parents, and a public education nonprofit. 

Prior to Oklahoma's charter school, religious schools were required to be private schools only, which receive funding from private donations and school-related costs like tuition and books.

The ruling comes as discussions heat up on the separation of church and state. A group of parents, along with the American Civil Liberty Union (ACLU) sued the state of Louisiana on Monday over the state's new law that would require all public schools to display the Ten Commandments in their classrooms.

The ACLU argued that the Louisiana law violates the First Amendment and infringes on a parents' control in the religious upbringing of their children.

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just the News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.