Dive Brief:
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Another religious school — this time Jewish — is seeking to operate in Oklahoma next year as a virtual public charter school, reviving the debate of whether religious schools can be considered public just months after a similar effort by a Catholic school was blocked by a deadlocked U.S. Supreme Court.
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The latest school, Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School, intends to apply to the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board for virtual charter authorization, according to civil rights organization Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
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The Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board was at the center of a yearslong controversy over St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, which applied to be the nation's first religious public school in 2023. The Oklahoma Supreme Court’s ruling against the school’s creation was upheld by a 4-4 ruling in the U.S. Supreme Court in May.
Dive Insight:
The religious charter candidates' paths were paved by two U.S. Supreme Court cases — Carson v. Makin in 2022 and Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue in 2020. When taken together, the two cases gave private institutions access to public funding regardless of their religious use or status, leaving the door open for the public funding of religious schools, including charters with religious instruction.
The battle over St. Isidore began with the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board's authorization of its application and contract in 2023. Before its creation was struck down by the Oklahoma Supreme Court, the school had been set to launch in fall 2024.
The even split along ideological lines in the U.S. Supreme Court came with no explanation, and resulted after Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself from the case.
“Despite their loss earlier this year at the U.S. Supreme Court, religious extremists once again are trying to undermine our country’s promise of church-state separation by forcing Oklahoma taxpayers to fund a religious public school," said Americans United in a statement Tuesday. "Not on our watch."
The organization also successfully challenged St. Isidore's creation.
The National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation is leading the most recent effort to create a religious virtual charter school in Oklahoma.
“Ben Gamla envisions Oklahoma students gaining a rigorous, values-based education that integrates general academic excellence with Jewish religious learning and ethical development,” said Peter Deutsch, founder of six Ben Gamla charter schools in Florida, in a letter obtained by the Oklahoma Voice. The letter was an intent to apply for charter authorization filed Nov. 3 with the charter school board.
The school would open initially with 40 students by the 2026-27 school year, per the local news outlet.
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