A consortium of civil rights and anti-state religion advocacy groups is calling on the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board to reject at its upcoming Feb. 9 meeting a proposal for the formation of an online Jewish charter school. If approved, it would become the first religious charter school in the nation.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the ACLU, the Education Law Center, the Freedom From Religion Foundation and the Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice sent a letter to the board Tuesday.
Several of those organizations sued in 2023 to prevent the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School from becoming the country’s first religious public charter school. Through a separate lawsuit, St. Isidore’s application was ruled unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court — a decision the U.S. Supreme Court allowed to stand.
Nevertheless, former U.S. Rep. Peter Deutsch (D-Fla.) appeared before the board in January to pitch the Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School, an online K-12 school, which would offer Jewish religious education.
Deutsch founded the Ben Gamla Charter School Foundation, which operates several English-Hebrew charter schools in south Florida, though the curriculum is secular. Deutsch's application would create a new school under the same name in Oklahoma while adding religious education.
Ben Gamla’s application received pushback from local Jewish communities. The Jewish Federation of Tulsa and the Jewish Federation of Greater Oklahoma City both expressed concern over the proposed school. Both organizations oppose religious charter schools altogether and refuted Deutsch’s claim that there are “very few opportunities for Jewish education in the state.”
At the January meeting, chair Brian Shellem said the board is constitutionally bound to adhere to the court ruling, making a denial against Ben Gamla likely. He said in that instance, he expects legal retaliation from the school.
In a statement, Ben Gamla characterized the St. Isidore ruling from SCOTUS as “providing no answer on the constitutional questions.”
