A bid to launch Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School as a taxpayer-funded religious charter school in Oklahoma was rejected by the state Feb. 9. In turning down the application, some members of the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board said they…
Split Supreme Court won’t allow public funds for religious charter school
The nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school will not happen, after a tie vote by the U.S. Supreme Court May 22. Justice Amy Coney Barrett abstained in the case OKPLAC Inc. v. Statewide Virtual Charter School, leaving eight justices…
Supreme Court appears inclined to establish Free Exercise Clause
The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority seemed open April 30 to permitting the use of taxpayer dollars to fund the nation’s first religious public charter school. Their reasoning during oral arguments about the case of St. Isidore of Seville Catholic…
Oklahoma school board allows nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school, despite legal challenges
Despite widespread opposition, the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board voted 3-2 Oct. 9 to allow the first publicly funded religious charter school in the nation. St. Isidore of Seville Virtual Charter School would be operated by the Catholic Archdiocese…
Opponents file suit to stop unprecedented Catholic charter school in Oklahoma
Parents, pastors and defenders of public education filed suit against state education officials in Oklahoma District Court July 31, seeking to reverse approval of St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School as the nation’s first religious charter school. Plaintiffs want…
Oklahoma could have nation’s first publicly funded Catholic charter schools
A Catholic charter school funded by taxpayer dollars is likely coming to Oklahoma soon, based on a recent ruling of the state’s outing attorney general, with support from the re-elected governor and newly elected state superintendent of public education. For…
Diane Ravitch wants you to think of public schools like police or fire departments
Diane Ravitch wants you to think about this scenario: Imagine your community with two or three fire departments with different resources and you have to choose which one to call when your house catches fire. Or imagine your community with…
Supreme Court opens new chapter of state funding for religious schools
The hotly contested barrier between private religious schools and government funding cracked significantly wider June 30 with a landmark ruling by the United States Supreme Court. In a 5-4 decision, the court ruled that the state of Montana may not…
Trump education pick worries church/state separationists
Advocates of church-state separation found little comfort in Donald Trump’s Nov. 23 announcement that he plans to nominate DeVos, a leader in the self-described school reform movement for more than two decades, to head up the U.S. Department of Education.