Oklahoma Supreme Court declines to stay ruling to rescind religious charter school contract 

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CNA Staff, Aug 6, 2024 / 13:09 pm (CNA).

The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Monday denied a stay of a recent ruling that required that the Statewide Charter School Board rescind a contract with a Catholic charter school. 

St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School had asked the court to stay the order so it could preserve the contract while filing an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The publicly funded, Catholic-directed institution would be the first of its kind in the nation.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court earlier this summer ruled against its establishment, ordering the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board to rescind the school’s contract. The court argued that extending public funding to a religious school would be a “slippery slope” that could lead to “the destruction of Oklahomans’ freedom to practice religion without fear of governmental intervention.” 

St. Isidore, managed by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa, is appealing the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

The Virtual Charter School Board, meanwhile — which has since been incorporated into the Statewide Charter School Board — delayed rescinding the contract pending the outcome of the appeal.

St. Isidore asked to keep its contract, while not opening the school or accepting state charter-school funding while the school appealed the case. The court ruled against the stay 7-1, while the chief justice, John Kane, recused himself of the vote. 

Attorney General Gentner Drummond petitioned the Oklahoma Supreme Court at the end of July, asking that the court “compel” the charter board to comply with the June 25 order to rescind the contract and “to make clear that further refusal … will be grounds for the issuance of a contempt citation.” 

For “nearly a month, the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board has ignored this court’s patently clear order requiring rescission of the unlawful contract,” the filing reads.

The Statewide Charter School Board is set to meet on Aug. 12, where it will review the ruling. 

St. Isidore is working with attorneys from the Notre Dame Religious Liberty Clinic, part of the Notre Dame Law School Religious Liberty Initiative.

Set to launch in August as an online, tuition-free, Catholic K–12 charter school, St. Isidore had 200 students registered to start in the fall.