A federal judge cleared the way for the nation’s first religious charter school to open in Oklahoma, bucking an earlier U.S. Supreme Court ruling against the idea.
The Sept. 24 order by District Judge David Russell in Oklahoma City clears the way for the National Ben Gamla Charter School Foundation to operate a virtual school under the state’s charter school program.
The foundation sued the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board in March after its application was denied in response to Oklahoma and U.S. Supreme Court rulings against a proposed Catholic charter school in the state. However, because the federal high court handed down a split decision, it applied only in Oklahoma and did not settle the question of the constitutionality of state-funded religious charter schools.
Russell’s preliminary injunction allows Ben Gamla to move forward with plans to launch the faith-based school as the lawsuit against the state continues.
“Because the nonsectarian provision in the Oklahoma Charter Schools Act expressly discriminates against otherwise eligible recipients solely because of their religious character, it violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment,” Russell wrote. “Further, neutrally administering the charter school program, to neither favor nor disfavor religion, does not offend the Establishment Clause.”
Peter Deutsch, founder of the National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation, praised the order as a victory for educational and religious freedom.
“The state cannot single out religious schools for exclusion while welcoming everyone else into the charter school program,” he said. “We’re eager to open wide the doors of educational opportunity in Oklahoma.”
David Chen
It was only a matter of time until the state’s “discriminatory bar” against faith-based charter schools would fail, said Daniel Chen, senior counsel at Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and the attorney for Ben Gamla.
“The Constitution doesn’t permit the state to welcome every kind of charter school except a religious one. Ben Gamla now gets what it should have had from the start: a fair shot to serve Oklahoma families.”
But the decision opens the way for a flood of publicly funded religious schools and irrevocable damage to American democracy, according to attorneys for seven Oklahoma residents granted intervenor status in The National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation, Inc. v. Shellem.
The citizens were represented by American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Education Law Center, Freedom from Religion Foundation and Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice.
Daniel Mach
The foundation has said it will integrate Jewish theological teachings into its curriculum and in every other “dimension of life” at the school, the groups said in a joint statement. “Forcing taxpayers to fund religious public schools violates state and federal law. Ben Gamla will not only indoctrinate students into a particular religion — it will discriminate against families that don’t share the school’s beliefs.”
Opponents of St. Isidore of Seville Virtual Charter School made the same arguments in OKPLAC Inc. v. Statewide Virtual Charter School Board, a state lawsuit filed in January 2024.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled the board violated the state and U.S. constitutions by approving the St. Isidore application.
“The very idea of a religious public school is a constitutional oxymoron,” Daniel Mach, director of the ACLU program on religious freedom and belief, said in May. “The (Oklahoma) Supreme Court’s ruling affirms that a religious school can’t be a public school and a public school can’t be religious.”
Related:
Federal court urged to uphold ban on religious charter schools in Oklahoma
Now a Jewish public charter school is proposed in Oklahoma
Oklahoma Supreme Court says Catholic charter school unconstitutional
Split Supreme Court won’t allow public funds for religious charter school