OK: State Rescinds Approval For Christian Charter School--For Now

One small addition to the story of St. Isidore, the Catholic cyber charter that was angling to be the nation's first religious charter school.

St. Isidore was approved a little over a year ago, despite the opinion of Republican attorney general Gentner Drummond that it was a Very Bad Idea and also Probably Illegal. There was nothing particularly sneaky about it--the Catholic Diocese of Tulsa was very clear that they intended it to be a full-on Catholic charter school, just as explicitly religious as any parochial school.

The supporters of the school (including, of course Governor Stitt and education dudebro-in-chief Ryan Walters) were banking on the Carson v. Makin decision paved the way for this new move. Meanwhile, GOP opponents like Drummond feared that it would open the door for all manner of religious charter schools (The Satanic Temple was ready to roll), and charter world opponents like Nina Rees of the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools objected because it would challenge the notion that charter schools are public schools, a definition that charteristas have historically preferred to bring up only when it suited them.

But the most immediate result of the state's board overseeing the approval of St. Isidore was, of course, a lawsuit.

Which the Catholic school lost. 

The court was pretty clear. The state's charter act says that charter schools are public schools. The state constitution says that the state must support public schools and may not spend taxpayer money on religious institutions.

Therefor the Establishment Clause and the Oklahoma Constitution apply, and the Free Exercise does not (because, says the court, St. Isidore is not a private entity). Wrote the court:

The State’s establishment of a religious charter school violates Oklahoma statutes Oklahoma Constitution, and the Establishment Clause. St. Isidore cannot justify existence by invoking Free Exercise rights as religious entity. St. Isidore came into existence through its charter with the State and will function as a component of the state’s public school system. The case turns on the State’s contracted-for religious teachings and activities through a new public charter school, not the State’s exclusion of a religious entity.

In other words, charters can’t invoke the rights of a private organization to Free Exercise, because they are not private organizations, but part of the state. Rescind the contract, ordered the court.

That was earlier this summer. So this month, the state's Charter School Board rescinded the contract with St. Isidore as directed by the court. 

However, there is a large "but" with that action.

The vote to rescind (8-0) comes with a condition-- if the state court or the Supreme Court reverses the court's decision, then St. Isidore's contract will be reinstated.

The board had previously passed up two opportunities to rescind the contract. Murray Evans in The Oklahoman (which has been all over this) reports that the delay was to give St. Isidore a chance to procure a stay. The appeal was denied last Monday, so the board took this action to rescind. 

But St. Isidore has indicated that they intend to ask SCOTUS to hear the case, and just at the end of July, the state board voted to join in that appeal. 

Would the current version of the Supreme Court welcome the chance to rule that a Catholic school should have a chance to hoover up taxpayer dollars? Ten years ago, that would have been a ridiculous proposition. Right now, St. Isidore and the Catholic Church think they have a shot. This story isn't over yet.