The Court Should Bless Religious Charters
Caroline MolloyThe Supreme Court will consider next Wednesday whether the First Amendment requires states to permit religious charter schools. The case, Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond, concerns what would be the nation’s first religious charter school: St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School.
The school, a joint project of the state’s two Catholic dioceses, seeks to deliver a high-quality Catholic education remotely across a large rural state. The state’s charter-school board approved St. Isidore’s application in 2023 after concluding that state laws requiring charter schools to be “nonsectarian” were unconstitutional. The Oklahoma Supreme Court disagreed and ordered the board to revoke its contract. St. Isidore argues that the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause protects its right to participate in the charter-school program.
