Oklahoma Catholic charter school faces swift atheist backlash and lawsuit threats
Jeremiah Poff
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Oklahoma is facing backlash from atheists and other groups that are vowing to sue the state for approving the nation’s first religiously affiliated public charter school.
The Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board approved the application of St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School on Monday, marking the first time a state had approved a religiously affiliated charter school. The effort was championed by Gov. Kevin Stitt (R-OK), who praised the approval of the new charter school as a “win for religious liberty.”
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But the board’s approval of the new charter school was quickly condemned by groups that threatened to sue the state for approving the charter, arguing that it violates the separation of church and state by using taxpayer funds to pay for sectarian religious education.
The Freedom from Religion Foundation said Oklahoma’s approval of the school was a “test case for the Catholic Church” and that its approval represented a violation of the Constitution.
“State officials have allowed their personal religious preferences to take precedence over the Constitution by voting to force taxpayers to support a Catholic charter school,” the foundation’s Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor said in a statement.
The foundation’s lengthy press release indicated that the group was looking at a “range of options,” including “a direct legal challenge.”
“Basic issues of law and fairness, as well as the future of secular public education, are at stake here — and the state/church watchdog will respond accordingly,” the organization said.
The Freedom from Religion Foundation was not the only entity to threaten legal action against Oklahoma for approving the charter school. Americans United for Separation of Church and State likewise said that it would launch a courtroom challenge and blasted the state for approving the school’s application.
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“It’s hard to think of a clearer violation of the religious freedom of Oklahoma taxpayers and public-school families than the state establishing the nation’s first religious public charter school,” the organization’s President and CEO Rachel Laser said in a statement. “This is a sea change for American democracy. Americans United will work with our Oklahoma and national partners to take all possible legal action to fight this decision and defend the separation of church and state that’s promised in both the Oklahoma and U.S. Constitutions.”
Both groups had opposed St. Isidore’s application prior to its approval, arguing that it violated state and federal law.