The Oklahoma Supreme Court has ruled that the state’s superintendent of public instruction cannot intervene in a lawsuit against the state’s first religious charter school. In a decision last week, the high court denied the Oklahoma Department of Education and Superintendent Ryan Walters’ request to intervene in the ongoing lawsuit filed by Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond against the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board, its members and St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. “This lawsuit is misguided in that it discriminates against some Oklahomans due to their faith, but also the fact that it is our agency that administers state aid for charter schools, not the Virtual Charter School Board,” said Walters in a statement about his motion to intervene in the case. “Rather than enshrine atheism as a state-sponsored religion, we are blessed that our Constitution guarantees religious liberty. I will never back down in the fight to uphold religious liberty in our state,” he vowed. Nothing, especially no misguided lawsuit, will deter me from standing up for our constitutionally guaranteed religious freedom. pic.twitter.com/VuxfOtxYT1 — Superintendent Ryan Walters (@RyanWaltersSupt) November 9, 2023 Walters’ motion to intervene would have enabled the Department of Education to become a […]

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