FFRF, 3 other groups challenge Oklahoma religious public charter school

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is part of a coalition of groups representing nine Oklahoma residents and a pro-public school nonprofit that filed a lawsuit Aug. 1 in Oklahoma state court challenging the nation’s first religious public charter school.

Joining FFRF in the coalition are Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Education Law Center, which represent the plaintiffs in OKPLAC Inc. v. Statewide Virtual Charter School Board.

The plaintiffs are faith leaders, public school parents and public education advocates who object to their tax dollars funding a public charter school that will discriminate against students and families based on their religion and LGBTQ-plus status, fail to adequately serve students with disabilities, and indoctrinate students into one religion — all in violation of Oklahoma law and our country’s promises of the separation of church and state and public schools that are open to all.

The lawsuit demonstrates that the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board violated the Oklahoma Constitution, the Oklahoma Charter Schools Act and the board’s own regulations when it approved St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School’s application for charter-school sponsorship on June 5. Reasons that the application was unlawful include:

• St. Isidore plans to discriminate in its policies and practices based on religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and other protected characteristics. Students could be denied admission, disciplined or even expelled if they or their family members are LGBTQ-plus, a different religious faith, or do not otherwise conform to certain Catholic religious beliefs.

• St. Isidore reserves the right to discriminate against students on the basis of disability and failed to show that it would provide adequate services to students with disabilities.

• St. Isidore plans to provide a religious education and indoctrinate its students in Catholic religious beliefs. The school’s application states that the school will “participate in the evangelizing mission of the [Catholic] Church” and will fully incorporate the Church’s teachings “into every aspect of the School,” including “all subjects” taught and all activities offered.

• The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City will have control over the school in violation of board regulations that require a charter school to be independent of its educational management organization.

The plaintiffs are asking the District Court of Oklahoma County to block (1) St. Isidore from operating as a charter school, (2) the charter school board from entering into or implementing any contracts with St. Isidore and (3) the state from funding St. Isidore.

“It’s unconscionable for the state of Oklahoma to approve funding for an overtly sectarian religious school, whose purposes are to promote Catholicism, not public education,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “This attack on our secular public education system cannot go unchallenged.”

The team of attorneys that represents the plaintiffs includes Senior Counsel Patrick Elliott of FFRF.