The Supreme Court can congratulate the vast expansion of taxpayers’ money use for religious education.
Scotus takes cases with LGBTQ+, school comprehensive books
Protesters on both sides protested as the Supreme Court heard about the district’s lawsuits regarding parental rights and LGBTQ+ books.
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Wednesday will consider whether Oklahoma’s Catholic Church can run the country’s first religious charter school.
The court’s decision is expected to turn on whether a charter school that is publicly funded but has private operators is a public school under the law.
If so, religion charter schools could violate the constitutional ban on governments that support religion.
Otherwise, banning churches from participating in state charter school programs could be discrimination under the constitutional promise that Americans can practice religion freely.
In recent cases where the dual aspects of the first amendment are tense, the Supreme Court has come down to the side that protects religious movements and blurs the lines separating churches and states.
Here’s what you need to know about one of the most well-known cases in which the court has decided on this term:
What is a charter school?
Charter Schools are tuition-free schools funded through taxpayer dollars, but run independently of the local school board. They are more flexible about how they run than traditional schools.
Oklahoma’s 30 charter schools educated about 7% of the state’s public school students from 2022-2023.
Nationally, there are over 8,000 charter schools serving around 3.8 million students, according to the National Public Charter Schools Alliance.
Is this case different from a school voucher?
yes. In 2002, the Supreme Court said taxpayer dollars could be used to help parents pay tuition fees at private religious schools.
One of the justices who opposed that 5-4 decision, now retired Judge David Starr called the size of public support for religious schools approved by the court “unprecedented.”
The voucher only covers a portion of the costs of private schools.
Oklahoma offers parents a voucher of up to $7,500 for parents to send their children to private schools, including children of religion.
What other Supreme Court decisions led to this case?
In the trio since 2017, the courts have allowed taxpayer funds to flow to religious groups. Most recently, the court said Maine could not remove religious schools from indirect aid programs based on the religious use of school funds.
“The state pays tuition to certain students in private schools, unless the school is religious,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in 2022 for the majority of six or three conservative justice. “It’s discrimination against religion.”
In her opposition, Judge Sonia Sotomayor said the court was “continuing to demolish the wall of separation between the church and the state that the framers fought to build.”
She expressed “growth of concern over where this court will lead us next.”
Who is behind the proposed school?
Two dioceses from the Catholic Church in Oklahoma established a nonprofit organization called St. Isidor, the Serville Virtual Charter School Inc. in 2023. The school predicted initial enrolment of 500 students.
Are schools open to non-Catholics?
The K-12 school is open to all Oklahomans who want a “robust Catholic education” that includes teaching “Catholic faith and morality.” Although exemptions are available, students must attend the masses of the two schools.
How did the question end in court?
The state governing body of charter school voted 3-2 to approve the church’s application. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond sued the governing body, alleging that the Charter School Board’s contract with the church’s nonprofit was illegal.
What did the lower court decide?
The Oklahoma Supreme Court last year ruled 6-2 that charter schools are public schools and state law requires public education to be secular. The court also said that Catholic charter schools violated provisions of the federal constitution, which aimed to maintain religion separately from the government.
Both the state’s Charter School Board and the nonprofit created by the Catholic parish have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh it. The court has combined the two appeals into one case, both the school board and the school, by another counsel, each of whom will speak during the oral discussion.
How did this question divide Oklahoma Republicans?
The governor and attorney general of Oklahoma — both Republicans — are on the other side of the issue.
Attorney General Drummond said that Catholic charter schools will “open the floodgates and force taxpayers to fund all sorts of religious indoctrination, including radical Islam and the Church of Satan.”
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has criticized Drummond for what he calls “open hostility towards religion.”
What is the Trump administration’s position?
Under the Trump administration, the Justice Department has changed its position to act like a government agency for charter schools. The court granted Trump’s lawyers general time during oral debate to argue that Oklahoma cannot ban religious charter schools.
What legal questions have been decided by the court?
The court has decided whether the state’s charter schools are “public.” This allows us to say that the state is not religious. They are also deciding whether Oklahoma can reject religious charter schools without violating America’s constitutional rights to practice their religion.
What is St. Isidor’s argument?
The churches and Oklahoma governing bodies that supported the proposed virtual charter schools claim that the charter schools are not “open.” Because the terms apply only to the fact that charter schools are funded free of charge to students through taxpayer dollars.
Charter schools maintain their independence from the state and maintain their independence from the state to prevent them from being governmental institutions. And it would be unconstitutional and discriminating against religion to prevent the Catholic Church from doing so after the state allows private companies to run charter schools.
They argue that the government does not impose religion on anyone because students must attend school.
What is the argument for St. Isidor?
Oklahoma Attorney General Drummond says charter schools are open to the public in the ordinary sense. They are created and funded by the state, highly regulated by the state, must comply with anti-discrimination laws, open free to all students, and teachers can participate in state retirement and insurance plans.
So, 46 states and federal governments, including Oklahoma, define charter schools as public schools, Drummond says. If Oklahoma’s requirement that charter schools be both public and non-denominational is unconstitutional, he argues that others do too.
What are the illegal arguments that both sides have made?
The Oklahoma Attorney General says the country’s founders were justly concerned that the government would give the religion an official seal of approval. And, keeping religious leadership out of public schools – a unique, influential environment – helps promote tolerance towards a variety of political and religious views, Drummond argues.
St. Isidor and the Charter School Board say opening the program to religious schools will expand educational choices, particularly for low-income families.
Will other religious schools become charter schools?
If the Supreme Court could transform St. Isidor and St. Isidor, thousands of Catholic and other religious schools into charter schools, according to Michael Petrilli, president of the Fordham Institute, the right think tank.
However, it depends in part on which rules you must follow, such as whether you can rule out LGBTQ+ students or staff.
“If the courts – if the state discovers that they must allow religious schools – they have to spell it all out,” Petrilli wrote. “If not, these questions could be litigated for years to come.”
Could St. Is Isidor’s judgment hurt the charter school’s moves?
The National Public Charter Schools Alliance views the case as an existential threat to not only the structure of public charter schools, but also their ongoing existence. If charter schools are considered private rather than private, they risk the funds of state charter schools that ban public funding for private schools, they told the Supreme Court in filings.
“The inability or unwillingness to sponsor a private charter school may initially decide to place a charter school under unified top-down surveillance that has thwarted public school innovation,” the association writes.
Will the court get stuck?
Judge Amy Connie Barrett rejected herself from this case, resulting in a 4-4 deadlock possible. That means that a decision by the state Supreme Court remains to reject religious charter schools.
Barrett gave no reason for her rejection. However, she is a close friend of a professor at Notre Dame Law School, who was St. Isidor’s early legal counsel.
When will the court issue its opinions?
A decision is expected by summer.
What other religious rights cases are pending in the courts?
The court is also determining whether religiously objected parents can request that their children be exempt from the class when books on LGBTQ+ characters are being used. And they are deciding whether Wisconsin Catholic charities should be exempt from the state’s unemployment tax.
Among both oral debates, the courts appeared likely to lie on religious groups.
