US Supreme Court urged to block first religious public school in Oklahoma News
James Johnson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
US Supreme Court urged to block first religious public school in Oklahoma

A group of faith leaders, education advocates and parents filed an amicus brief Monday, urging the US Supreme Court to block Oklahoma’s first religious public school. The brief argued that public schools must be open to all students regardless of religious affiliation and that allowing the school to proceed would undermine religious freedom.

Oklahoma is proposing the opening of St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. The school intends to educate students in one religion. It was argued in the amicus brief that the Oklahoma Supreme Court correctly held that public schools must abide by the US Constitution, and therefore protect religious freedom while ensuring separation of church and state. The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled in June of 2024 that the creation of St. Isidore violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, as well Constitution, which prohibits public money or property from being donated, appropriated, or used for the use of benefit of any sect, church, denomination, or priest.  

Previously, the school counter-argued that blocking the establishment of a public school deprived religious groups of government aid, and interfered with the freedom of religion unconstitutionally.

In January of this year when the US Supreme Court agreed to hear the case Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union, Education Law Center, and Freedom From Religion Foundation released a statement on the matter:

The law is clear: Charter schools are public schools and must be secular and open to all students. The Oklahoma Supreme Court correctly found that the state’s approval of a religious public charter school was unlawful and unconstitutional. We urge the US Supreme Court to affirm that ruling and safeguard public education, church-state separation, and religious freedom for all. Oklahoma taxpayers, including our plaintiffs, should not be forced to fund a religious public school that plans to discriminate against students and staff and indoctrinate students into one religion. Converting public schools into Sunday schools would be a dangerous sea change for our democracy.

Representative Mickey Dollens released a statement on X (formerly Twitter) in July of last year addressing the controversial issue stating that “these are attacks on religious freedom. We are a constitutional republic which is a form of democracy, NOT a theocracy.”

Oral arguments are expected by the parties later this month.

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