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Oklahoma must allow taxpayer-funded religious charter school, judge rules
The ruling bars Oklahoma from enforcing a nonsectarian mandate after the judge found it discriminates against otherwise eligible religious schools.
- On Thursday, U.S. District Judge David Russell issued a preliminary injunction blocking Oklahoma from enforcing its ban on religious charter schools, allowing the National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation to move forward.
- Earlier this year, the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board rejected Ben Gamla's application, citing state law requiring charter schools to be nonsectarian, prompting the foundation to sue.
- Judge Russell wrote that the state's nonsectarian provision violates the First Amendment's Free Exercise Clause by expressly discriminating against schools solely because of their religious character.
- Daniel Chen, senior counsel at Becket Law, stated the Constitution "doesn't permit the state to welcome every kind of charter school except a religious one," ensuring Ben Gamla a fair shot to serve Oklahoma families.
- Lawyers for interveners, including Americans United and the American Civil Liberties Union, called the ruling "a dangerous sea change for our democracy," vowing to continue fighting for secular public schools open to all students.
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Oklahoma must allow taxpayer-funded religious charter school, judge rules
A federal judge in Oklahoma cleared the way on Thursday for a Jewish organization to establish the nation's first taxpayer-funded religious charter school in a case over religious rights in American education that could eventually reach the US Supreme Court.
·London, United Kingdom
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Total News Sources7
Leaning Left0Leaning Right3Center4Last UpdatedBias Distribution57% Center
Bias Distribution
- 57% of the sources are Center
57% Center
C 57%
R 43%
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