Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond

Description:  Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond is seeking to cancel the contract the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board entered with St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School solely because St. Isidore is Catholic. The board members took an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution, and the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly held that religious groups cannot be excluded from generally available programs solely because of their religious character.

WASHINGTON – The United States Solicitor General’s Office, 12 states, charter school groups, religious organizations, and elected leaders submitted friend-of-the-court briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of religious liberty and educational freedom. In Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys are defending the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board’s decision to approve St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School’s application to participate in the state’s charter-school program. The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that the board could not allow St. Isidore to participate in the program because the school is religious.

“Oklahoma parents and children are better off with more educational choices, not fewer,” said ADF Chief Legal Counsel Jim Campbell. “The U.S. Constitution protects St. Isidore’s freedom to participate in Oklahoma’s charter-school program, and it supports the board’s decision to provide more high-quality, no-cost educational options for Oklahoma families. As this broad coalition argued, the government can’t invite a vast array of groups to participate in its charter-school program while singling out religious groups for exclusion.”

ADF attorneys defended the board against a lawsuit filed by Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond in the Oklahoma Supreme Court to cancel the board’s charter contract with St. Isidore. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to review the state supreme court’s ruling, which conflicts with U.S. Supreme Court precedent establishing that, when a state creates a generally available public program and invites groups to apply, it cannot exclude applicants solely because of their religious character. ADF attorneys filed their opening brief earlier this month.

As the United States Solicitor General’s Office stated: “A State may not put schools, parents, or students to the choice of forgoing religious exercise or forgoing government funds. But that is precisely what Oklahoma did here.” EdChoice—a nationwide leader in the school choice movement—explained that “expanding charter school pluralism to include religious curriculum would benefit students” because “[c]harter schools have achieved better outcomes for students” and religious “options have succeeded in other school choice programs.”

A group of charter school organizations led by Great Hearts Academy emphasized that “deeming private organizations operating charter schools to be state actors,” as the Oklahoma Supreme Court, did “will hinder educational freedom” and “substantially undercut the very nature and purpose of charter schools.” And 12 states, led by South Carolina, warned that a decision “prohibiting religious organizations from competing for charter school contracts compromises the freedom of religious organizations, hampers opportunities for states to provide education to their citizens, stifles students’ opportunities to thrive in a quality educational environment, and limits parents’ choice of schools to send their children.”

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.

# # #