Divided Supreme Court weighs effort to create nation's first religious charter school

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

62% : " The school estimated initial enrollment of 500 students and projected it would receive roughly $2.7 million in state funding for its first year of operation, according to court documents.
60% : She said the case is part of a progression that began with the Supreme Court's 2017 ruling and comes as traditional public schools are being starved of resources in many states.
57% : Backing them in the case are Oklahoma's GOP governor, Kevin Stitt, and the state superintendent of public instruction, Ryan Walters.
56% : Following arguments, it seemed likely that the outcome hinges on Chief Justice John Roberts, who focused on the level of state involvement in its charter school program during the arguments.
54% : " "I doubt most Oklahomans would want their tax dollars to fund a religious school whose tenets are diametrically opposed to their own faith," he said.
53% : Oklahoma has offered charter schools within its public education system since 1999 and, like at least 44 other states and the federal charter school program, requires the institutions to be "nonsectarian in its programs, admission policies, employment practices, and all other operations."
53% : In filings with the Supreme Court, Drummond argued that the justices have drawn a clear line through those decisions: If the state offers tuition assistance that parents can direct to the school of their choosing, it cannot exclude religious private schools.
52% : "But our Constitution has never required the creation of religious public schools.
51% : Jackson said charter schools are "a creation and creature of the state.
51% : But when it comes to public schools, he said, states can provide a secular education.
51% : " He warned that if the Supreme Court rules for St. Isidore, "state funds will pour into religious public charter schools just as they do traditional public schools," and the firewall between public funds flowing to a school because of private choice versus a direct subsidy would be damaged.
50% : A ruling in favor of the school, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, could lead to the country's first religious charter school and upend laws in at least 45 states and the District of Columbia, as well as the federal charter school program, all of which require charter schools to be nonsectarian, Oklahoma's Republican attorney general, Gentner Drummond, has warned.
50% : "The agenda has been to require, not just allow, direct government funding of religious schools in particular," she said.
49% : The attorney general prevailed before the state's highest court, which ruled that because St. Isidore's is a public charter school, it violated the state's requirement that those entities be nonreligious, as well as the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, in part because it would "permit state spending in direct support of the religious curriculum and activities within St. Isidore.
49% : Drummond said the Supreme Court has never held that the Constitution's Establishment Clause allows "direct aid for religious instruction in public schools," and added that creating and funding a religious public school would violate that provision of the First Amendment.
48% : Drummond says they are, because the state's charter schools have to comply with anti-discrimination laws; they are free, open to all students, created and funded by the state, and are subject to government regulation and oversight regarding curriculum, testing and other issues.
45% : Barrett is also close friends with Nicole Stelle Garnett, an associate dean at Notre Dame Law School who authored a paper that suggested that as a result of a June 2020 Supreme Court ruling, states with charter schools must permit religious charter schools or risk violating the Free Exercise Clause.
43% : "A ruling for petitioners would eliminate the buffer this court has long enforced between religious instruction and public schools -- including in areas where charter schools are the only or default public-school option," Drummond argued, noting that the issue is direct aid.
42% : And because charter schools are public schools, the attorney general said they are government entities.
40% : Justice Neil Gorsuch warned such a result could lead states to impose more requirements on charter schools, such as mandating public officials to serve on their boards and boosting state involvement in their creation.
40% : A crucial question in the court fight is whether Oklahoma's charter schools are public schools.
37% : "Unfortunately, the approval of a charter school by one faith will compel the approval of charter schools by all faiths, including even those most Oklahomans would consider reprehensible and unworthy of public funding.
37% : But professor Hill, like Drummond, said charter schools are public schools, and warned there's always been a line where the Supreme Court did not allow the direct flow of government funds to religious schools for religious instruction.
35% : He warned that a decision in favor of the school would render the laws in nearly all states and the federal charter school program unconstitutional because they all require charter schools to be nonsectarian.

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