Okla. Supreme Court Decision On Publicly Funded Charter School Appealed, Scotus Decision Requested

The Statewide Charter School Board votes to appeal the Oklahoma Supreme Court decision on St. Isidore of Seville to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

State justices ruled in June that the school was unconstitutional, and ordered the board to cancel the contract between the state and St. Isidore.

After board members took no action on the contract or lawsuit during a meeting in early July, they decided to appeal on Tuesday.

The board members say they recognize that this was a very weighted decision, saying either way, the court decision is expected to set a precedent in Oklahoma and across the nation. Because of that, they decided to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in, and hopefully make a final decision.

“I think the families of Oklahoma have spoken loudly and, that they want their religious liberties protected, they want school choice, they want to be able to choose the school that meets the needs of their kids,” said State Superintendent Ryan Walters.

Joining his first Charter School Board meeting, Walters made his case as to why he believes they should appeal the state Supreme Court decision. He and most members of the board share the opinion that St. Isidore should operate in Oklahoma.

Even though the motion to kick things up to the U.S. Supreme Court passed, one board member was abstaining and a second voted no, saying they don’t have the authority to make these kinds of decisions.

“Looking at the statute, what our duties as a board is, this is in my opinion way outside our purview,” said Becky Gooch, member of the SVCSB.

Gooch is the appointee of Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat. 

The other seven board members, including Walters, all voted in favor of the appeal.

Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in a statement:

“Every Oklahoman should be outraged by the board’s blatant hostility toward religious liberty. Rather than acting to protect religious liberty, they are recklessly committed to using our tax dollars to fund radical religious teachings like Sharia law. I will continue to protect the religious liberty of all four million Oklahomans by upholding their constitutional rights.”

The school would be the first-ever publicly funded religious school. St. Isidore would operate using taxpayer dollars and follow a catholic-based curriculum and ideology.

When the contract between the state and St. Isidore was approved last summer, Attorney General Gentner Drummond sued the board, calling the school unconstitutional. Both sides made their arguments in the state supreme court in April, and justices sided with Drummond in June.

The ruling called the school unconstitutional and ordered the virtual charter school board to rescind the contract immediately. An action item to cancel the contract has been on the last two meeting agendas, but today board members moved to table the item until all pending litigation was resolved.

There is no word yet on when or if the U.S. Supreme Court will take up the case.