Members of the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board discuss St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School’s application. Oklahoma will still consider approving a religious charter school despite a February opinion from new state Attorney General Gentner Drummond saying that doing so ”misuses the concept of religious liberty by employing it as a means to justify state-funded religion.” At an April 11 meeting, the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board unanimously turned down an application from the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City to establish the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. However, the board gave the applicant 30 days to revise their plan and address issues related to broader K-12 concerns, like academics, special education services and internet access for rural students. Access now➔ Trendline School Safety and Security The board did not ask the archdiocese to address issues raised by opponents — such as potential religious or sex discrimination in admissions and academics — of what would be the nation’s first virtual religious charter funded by state taxpayer money. “Irrespective of the constitutionality of the proposal….the stronger the application is…the better off the school perhaps would be when all things got endorsed,” said Robert Franklin, chairman of the […]
