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The ruling follows a decision last year by an Oklahoma school
board to approve the Catholic Church's application to create the
first taxpayer-funded religious charter school in the U.S. The
state's attorney general then took the matter to court.
"St. Isidore will evangelize the Catholic faith as part of its
school curriculum while sponsored by the state," the court said.
The state's constitution mandates that public schools, including
charter schools, be nonsectarian and prohibits the use of public
money for the benefit or support of religious institutions.
As a result, according to the court, the establishment of St.
Isidore, which would have cost taxpayers up to $25.7 million
over its first five years of operation, violates the state and
federal law.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said the state's top
court's decision was "a tremendous victory for religious
liberty."
"The framers of the U.S. Constitution and those who drafted
Oklahoma’s Constitution clearly understood how best to protect
religious freedom: by preventing the State from sponsoring any
religion at all," Drummond said in a statement.
Church officials previously said they hope the case will reach
the U.S. Supreme Court, where a 6-3 conservative majority has
taken an expansive view of religious rights, including in two
rulings since 2020 concerning schools in Maine and Montana.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward; editing by Donna Bryson and Bill
Berkrot)
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