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Community journalism with context Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond shakes hands with Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Phil Sechler ahead of oral arguments before the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday, April 2, 2024. (Tres Savage) Students who signed up to attend St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School this fall will have to enroll elsewhere following an Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling today that held the proposed religious charter school’s contract violated the Oklahoma Constitution and the U.S. Constitution. “There is no question that St. Isidore is a sectarian institution and will be sectarian in its programs and operations,” Justice James Winchester wrote in the majority opinion. “The charter school board had to alter various terms of the model contract to draft the St. Isidore contract, allowing it to operate as a religious charter school. However, in changing the various terms of the model contract, the St. Isidore contract violates the plain language of the [Oklahoma Charter School Act] and the Oklahoma Constitution.” Winchester was joined in his opinion by five other justices: Yvonne Kauger, Noma Gurich, James Edmondson, Douglas Combs and Richard Darby. Chief Justice M. John Kane IV recused without offering explanation, although he said he is Catholic and […]