A virtual Oklahoma Catholic school is set to become the first religious charter school in the country, setting up a likely legal battle with secular groups.
St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, which is to be run by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa, was approved by the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board on Monday in a 3-2 vote. The school will provide religious education to students, but it will be funded by taxpayers, something secular groups are likely to object to.
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Gov. Kevin Stitt (R-OK) applauded the development, painting it as a win for religious liberty and educational freedom.
“I applaud the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board’s courage to approve the authorization for St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School,” Stitt said in a statement. “This is a win for religious liberty and education freedom in our great state, and I am encouraged by these efforts to give parents more options when it comes to their child’s education.”
“Oklahomans support religious liberty for all and support an increasingly innovative educational system that expands choice,” he added. “Today, with the nation watching, our state showed that we will not stand for religious discrimination.”
The board that approved the charter school is made up of appointees from Stitt and the state’s Republican legislature, the New York Times reported.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a legal advocacy group that has previously spoken out against the proposal, denounced the move to approve the religious charter school in a statement sent to the Washington Examiner. President and CEO Rachel Laser said the move constitutes a “sea change for American democracy.”
“It’s hard to think of a clearer violation of the religious freedom of Oklahoma taxpayers and public-school families than the state establishing the nation’s first religious public charter school,” Laser said.
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“This is a sea change for American democracy. Americans United will work with our Oklahoma and national partners to take all possible legal action to fight this decision and defend the separation of church and state that’s promised in both the Oklahoma and U.S. Constitutions,” she continued.
She added that the creation of a religious charter school violates state and federal law and added that “public schools must never be allowed to become Sunday schools.”
