I love Charter Schools and think parochial schools are great. Do these belong together? F-ck no. Haven't these idiots heard of the First Amendment? I demand a Jewish Charter School!
By the way, most of the folk who live in Oklahoma married their sister and have IQ of a turnip.
BTW. a stupid musical but a great theme song.
Nation’s First Religious Charter School Approved in Oklahoma
Opponents say they will sue to block the Catholic virtual K-12 school from getting public funds
By Sara Randazzo, WSJ
June 5, 2023 7:06 pm ET
An Oklahoma school board Monday approved the first religious charter school in the nation, a move likely to spark legal challenges and debate over whether public funds should be used for religious education.
The 3-2 vote by the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board clears the way for St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School to open in the fall of 2024, with plans to weave religious curriculum into online classes offered from kindergarten to 12th grade.
In the months since St. Isidore first submitted its application, national education and religious groups have lined up on both sides of the issue.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State said Monday it will work with other organizations to challenge the approval in court, calling it a “sea change for American democracy” that threatens a bedrock principle of the U.S. Constitution.
“Public schools must never be allowed to become Sunday schools,” Rachel Laser, the organization’s president and chief executive, said.
Oklahoma’s top elected officials have disagreed on the legality of creating a religious charter school. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond in February revoked a prior attorney general’s legal opinion in favor of the school, calling it a “slippery slope” that would violate state law and clear the way for schools aligned to any kind of religion, even ones viewed by some as reprehensible.
Oklahoma Gov. J. Kevin Stitt has supported the school. On Monday, the Republican governor called the approval vote courageous and said it would give parents more options for their child’s education.
Charter schools are publicly funded but typically operate independently from traditional school districts. Some are founded around an educational philosophy or focus, such as being social-justice oriented or concentrating on science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM. Admissions are often done through applications and lotteries.
About 7.5% of public-school students, or 3.7 million children, attend the nation’s estimated 7,800 charter schools, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.
The national charter-school group denounced the vote Monday, saying it runs afoul of state and local laws. “Public schools cannot teach religion, require attendance at religious services, or condition enrollment or hiring based on religious beliefs,” the group said.
A legal challenge could reach the U.S. Supreme Court, which currently has a conservative majority. John Meiser, a professor at the University of Notre Dame’s law school who is advising the charter school’s organizers, said this issue would be the next logical extension of recent Supreme Court rulings “about the rights of religious individuals and organizations to participate equally in state programs that support educational choice.” That includes a ruling last year that religious schools can’t be excluded from a Maine program that pays private-school tuition for students in areas that lack public schools.
At an April meeting of the Oklahoma virtual school board, local religious leaders urged the group not to approve the school, arguing it violates the law and principle of religious freedom.
Members of the board—made up of retirees and business professionals, some with backgrounds in education—publicly expressed concern about personal legal exposure they could face by approving the application. The board asked St. Isidore to resubmit its application to address deficiencies, including how it would support special-education students.
In a more than 400-page application, St. Isidore, backed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tulsa and Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, lays out a mission “to educate the entire child: soul, heart, intellect and body.” Teaching of religion is mentioned alongside subjects like math, literature and social studies. The school anticipates needing $23.3 million in state funding over its first five years, growing in that period from accommodating 375 students initially to 1,125.
The approval comes as states across the country are passing measures to allow parents to use taxpayer dollars to educate their children outside the public-school system. Such school vouchers are hailed by school-choice advocates for giving families greater options, but are opposed by teachers and their unions that argue they strip resources from public schools.
Arizona stood out in the recent wave of voucher laws, approving a program last year that offers Arizona families about $7,000 a year per student for private school tuition, home schooling, tutoring or other educational expenses.