Religious Charter Schools: Another Brick in the Wall of Separation?

The idea that religion should be isolated from our civil institutions has overwhelmingly captured the American popular imagination . Recently however, the U.S. Supreme Court has been dismantling this “wall of separation” narrative, brick by brick, to allow more freedom for private religious expression and activity. Over the past year, the Court has consistently ruled in favor of religious plaintiffs over the government in Carson v. Makin , Kennedy v. Bremerton School District , 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis , and Groff v. DeJoy . The next brick the Court may consider is the public funding of a religious charter school in Oklahoma. On June 5, the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board approved St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School ’s application to become the nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school. St. Isidore plans to open in August of 2024 for the 2024-2025 school year and will be run by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa. Like most states, Oklahoma requires its charter schools to be nonsectarian in their operations and forbids operation by a religious organization, but St. Isidore believes the law is on its side. Now that the Virtual […]

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