The state board governing virtual charter schools heard Tuesday details on a proposal to open the nation’s first online religious public charter school.
During the meeting, board member Dr. Robert Franklin asked Laura Schuler, a representative from the Catholic church, whether there would be a religious component required in classes like math and English or whether that would be separated out.
“Is there a required religious indoctrination type course that’s embedded into an elementary, or middle, or high school course of matriculation? Or is that something a student chooses?” asked Franklin.
“In the Catholic schools, the Catholic faith is a required course all the way through,” replied Schuler.
Schuler said St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School would benefit mostly rural areas where the cost of setting up new schools is prohibitive but a desire for affordable religious schooling still exists.
Two people spoke during public comment, both against the establishment of the school. Kenneth Upton, an attorney with Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said the application for St. Isidore violates the U.S. Constitution.
“The first amendment requires public schools to be neutral on issues of religion. This is a fundamental and historic safeguard essential to protecting religious freedom and ensures students and their families – not school officials – make their own decisions,” said Upton.
Sherri Brown with the Oklahoma Parent Legislative Committee urged the board to “keep solid the wall between church and state” by denying taxpayer money to a religious school.
Whether or not the application from the Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa will be approved remains to be seen. The board postponed a vote until a future meeting.
Brett Farley, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma, told Public Radio Tulsa Tuesday morning he’s uncertain what the makeup of the charter school board will be when it comes time for a vote. Currently, two seats are vacant. Farley said the church has limited information about candidates set to be chosen by Gov. Kevin Stitt and House Speaker Charles McCall.
“We’ve talked about some folks that have some expertise in the education space, but ultimately that’s for the staff of the governor and the speaker to review respectively. I’m told they have some folks on a list they’ve been considering, but we haven’t gotten a lot of information as to who those people might be. I’m sure that will crystallize as we get closer to the prospect of a vote,” said Farley.
Farley also said he believes Oklahoma’s new Attorney General Gentner Drummond supports “religious liberty” but didn’t elaborate on whether or not that means Drummond would contest the school.
Farley said he thinks Drummond’s staff supports the Catholic church’s application.
“Now I can tell you, despite that we have a new attorney general, most of the staff that participated in researching and preparing the opinion from Attorney General O’Connor are still in the office. It’s not likely in the 90 days since they’ve released that their opinions have changed,” said Farley.
Former unelected Attorney General John O’Connor issued an opinion saying it was not a violation of law for a religious school to receive public funds. Drummond didn’t respond to multiple questions from Public Radio Tulsa about the stance of his office.
