CNA Staff, Apr 2, 2024 / 17:35 pm
The Oklahoma Supreme Court heard arguments on Tuesday for a case that will determine if the state can fund a Catholic charter school.
The case, Drummond v. Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board, follows the board’s decision to approve St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. The school would become the nation’s first religious charter school.
Charter schools are publicly funded but privately run education institutions that retain autonomy in how they are run while still being publicly accountable.
Republican Attorney General Gentner Drummond argued on Tuesday against the board’s approval of the school. In the lawsuit, filed in October 2023, Drummond argued that the school’s existence is an unconstitutional “harm to religious liberty” that sets a precedent that could require the state to fund a “public charter school teaching Sharia Law.”