Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond recently took over as attorney for the Oklahoma Charter School Board after determining its members had approved a state contract with St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School which he believed was unconstitutional.
Drummond asked the Oklahoma Supreme Court to declare the contract unconstitutional in that it would be public funding of a religious institution. The Oklahoma Supreme Court agreed, making that ruling in June.
Now the Oklahoma Charter School Board has rejected the attorney general, and is going without Drummond to appeal the State Supreme Court decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Members of the Oklahoma Charter School Board met Tuesday concerning several agenda items including the following: Discussion and possible action regarding pending litigation related to St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School and the Supreme Court’s June 25, 2024, ruling, including without limitation substitution of the Board for the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board in such litigation and appeal of the Supreme Court’s ruling to the United States Supreme Court.
Phil Bacharach, director of communications for the Office of the Attorney General, said the board tabled action on rescinding the St. Isidore contract pending the appeal. They also rejected the Oklahoma Attorney General as legal counsel for the board.
In a statement released Tuesday by Drummond, the Attorney General said, “Every Oklahoman should be outraged by the board’s blatant hostility toward religious liberty. Rather than acting to protect religious liberty, they are recklessly committed to using our tax dollars to fund radical religious teachings like Sharia law. I will continue to protect the religious liberty of all four million Oklahomans by upholding their constitutional rights.”
If the Supreme Court were to rule in appeal in favor of the Oklahoma Charter School Board, it would establish the nation’s first state-sponsored, taxpayer-funded religious public school.
