An Oklahoma education board rejected the application of a Jewish K-12 school despite a recent federal decision enabling the project to continue.
The Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board voted 4-3 against Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School. The tally was one vote short of the five needed to approve the application, with one member absent and one seat vacant, Oklahoma Voice reported.
The Oct. 12 vote was preceded by a U.S. district court ruling declaring a state law preventing taxpayer-funded religious charter schools violated the Establishment and Free Exercise clauses of the U.S. Constitution. That decision stemmed from a lawsuit the National Ben Gamla Charter School Foundation filed after its first application was rejected by the state board in February. The litigation also followed an Oklahoma Supreme Court decision against a proposed Catholic charter school and the U.S. Supreme Court’s affirmation of that ruling in a 4-4 vote which, because it was split, applied to the state only.
Opposition to the proposed school, which promised to blend Jewish theological teaching into the curriculum, resulted in seven Oklahoma taxpayers being granted intervenor status in The National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation, Inc. v. Shellem.
The group’s attorneys noted that rather than the 335 to 400 students promised on his application, Ben Gamla founder Peter Deutsch has been unable to find even 10 to attend the proposed school and that he has reached out to Jewish leaders across the state for help.
Rabbi Daniel Kaiman
“I was surprised that Mr. Deutsch would not only ask for my help to enroll students in a public religious charter school — an endeavor I have publicly opposed because I believe in church-state separation and secular public education — but that he’d also invite me to apply to become the school’s principal,” said Rabbi Daniel Kaiman, leader of a Tulsa synagogue and one of the intervenors.
The intervenors are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the Education Law Center, the Freedom from Religion Foundation and the Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice.
The organizations sent a letter to board members Oct. 8 underscoring the school’s lack of community support and lack of credibility. “A charter high school that admits that it will struggle to enroll as few as 10 students cannot possibly be financially or operationally viable,” the groups said.
While the board is barred from voting against Ben Gamla because it is religious, the letter added, it can still do so for other reasons: “As the disclosure of Ben Gamla’s miniscule ‘aspirational enrollment’ demonstrates that the school lacks community support, that the school is not financially or operationally viable, that its application materials are woefully deficient, and that the school lacks credibility, the board is statutorily obligated to deny Ben Gamla’s application.”
Gentner Drummond
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond dropped his lawsuit against the board after the vote.
“From day one, this case was about making a state agency tell the whole truth about why it rejected a deeply flawed application,” Drummond said. “My office warned this board in March that the school had no community support and no realistic path to the enrollment it promised.”
But Board Chair Brian Shellem said the vote against Ben Gamla “subjects our board to more litigation,” Oklahoma Voice reported.
“We have a preliminary injunction that says we can’t discriminate against them based on their religious character,” he said. “Obviously, I didn’t poll any of the board members. I don’t know why they voted a certain way. They had the same information that I had. I thought Ben Gamla’s application was strong and thorough. I think they would have been a great addition to our charter school network.”
Shellem invited the foundation to re-apply and extended the invitation to other faith groups.
Related:
Federal judge allows religious charter school in Oklahoma — for now
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