Jewish charter school sues Oklahoma board over denial of public funding
Caroline MolloyA proposed Jewish charter school is now suing Oklahoma’s Statewide Charter School Board after it denied the school’s application for public funding, setting up another legal fight over whether religious schools can receive taxpayer dollars.
The lawsuit follows a similar case involving a Catholic charter school that reached the U.S. Supreme Court but ended in a 4-4 tie, leaving Oklahoma’s ban on publicly funded religious charter schools in place—for now.
Attorneys for the proposed Ben Gamla Jewish charter school argue the state cannot deny funding solely because the school is religious.
“The fact that you’re religious in your activity doesn’t allow the government to discriminate against you,” said Eric Baxter, an attorney representing Ben Gamla. “Think about, for example, the government provides Medicaid funding or Medicare funding to hospitals and medical providers. You can’t deny that funding just because the person who needs it goes to Holy Cross Hospital, and that’s a Catholic hospital… You have to treat all institutions equally, whether they’re religious or not,” Baxter said. “And targeting religious or excluding religious organizations violates the First Amendment’s religion clauses.”
The Statewide Charter School Board and its attorney told News 4 they denied the application for one reason.
“The charter school board has been very clear that they would prefer to actually approve the application of them, but for the religious discrimination that the Oklahoma Supreme Court requires to take place,” AJ Ferate, the board’s attorney, said.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court decision he referenced stems from a Catholic religious school News 4 reported on that applied to become an Oklahoma public charter school.
