A state school board in Oklahoma has voted to approve what would be the nation’s first publicly funded religious school in a move that opponents, including the state’s attorney general, are saying is blatantly unconstitutional.
The application to form the school, an online public charter school that would serve K-12, was submitted by the Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma. The purpose of forming the school is very clearly aimed at spreading Christianity: in the “vision and purpose” section of the application, the Archdiocese wrote, “The Catholic school participates in the evangelizing mission of the Church and is the privileged environment in which Christian education is carried out.”
The Statewide Virtual Charter School Board approved the application for the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School by a 3 to 2 vote on Monday. A similar application by the school was rejected unanimously in April. The revised and resubmitted application was approved on Monday after the Oklahoma House Speaker Charles McCall (R) appointed a new board member to replace a previous one at the last minute on Friday.
The decision was so extreme that the Republican Attorney General of the state, Gentner Drummond, condemned the approval as unconstitutional. “The approval of any publicly funded religious school is contrary to Oklahoma law and not in the best interest of taxpayers,” Drummond said. “It’s extremely disappointing that board members violated their oath in order to fund religious schools with our tax dollars. In doing so, these members have exposed themselves and the State to potential legal action.”
Indeed, several organizations have threatened to sue over the decision. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Americans United for Separation of Church and State are preparing a joint lawsuit. The ACLU said the approval of the school violates the separation of church and state and that the approval of the school is akin to “religious indoctrination,” a comparison also made by Democratic state Rep. Mickey Dollens.
Americans United strongly condemned the decision. “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. This is a sea change for American democracy,” said Americans United CEO Rachel Laser in a statement. “State and federal law are clear: Charter schools are public schools that must be secular and open to all students.”
The Archdiocese argued that the school would be a private entity, despite the fact that it would be funded in part by taxpayer money. Gov. Kevin Stitt (R), who has taken multiple steps to suppress public educators’ ability to teach about inequality and to support religious schools in the state, called the vote a “win for religious liberty and education freedom.”
The approval is one of the first major public moves in the right’s quest to enshrine Christianity into public schooling, which Republicans and their dark money backers have been working to do for a number of years now.
As Substack newsletter Public Notice pointed out earlier this year, the right has already set the stage for the Supreme Court to uphold the approval of St. Isidore of Seville, citing cases that have already vastly eroded the separation of church and state.
In 2020, for instance, the Supreme Court decided that it is unconstitutional for Montana to grant certain funding to public schools but not religious schools — essentially forcing states to fund religious private schools. And, last year, the Supreme Court protected the ability of a public school football coach to lead his students in Christian prayer after games.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.