Logan Layden sat down with StateImpact education reporter Beth Wallis to understand how a Jewish charter school case may go all the way to the Supreme Court.
TRANSCRIPT:
Logan Layden: The Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation is looking to establish a school in Oklahoma. What would the school look like?
Beth Wallis: So this would be a virtual school that offers a religious Jewish education. There are already Ben Gamla schools in Florida from the same founder, former US representative Peter Deutsch, but they do not offer a Jewish education, this would be a separate school from those.
Layden: The Statewide Charter School Board must approve a school's application before the contract process can start. Did the Board approve Ben Gamla?
Wallis: No. So originally there were several deficiencies in the application, and after those deficiencies were addressed, the board was very specific in its denial to limit it to the school's religious character. And that decision is what ended up in federal court.
Layden: So, Ben Gamla sued the board, but the board's legal team argued on behalf of Ben Gamla?
Wallis: So here's where it gets interesting. The board said its hands were tied because of a previous Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling that decided a Catholic charter school's application was unconstitutional. And that case went to the Supreme Court, which tied after a justice recused herself. And that left the state ruling to stand. That was the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School.
So because of the St Isidore ruling, the board said it had to vote against Ben Gamla, but it ultimately disagrees with the precedent. So while it's technically on opposite sides of the lawsuit, its lawyers argue for Ben Gamla. The only ones in the courtroom arguing against the plaintiff are a group of interveners, which is made up of faith leaders, parents, and other Oklahoma taxpayers. The judge ruled in favor of Ben Gamla and said the board could not deny the school based on its religious character.
Layden: So did the board follow the judge's order? Did it approve the school's application?
Wallis: So a board member didn't show up, and the board didn't have the required five votes to approve it. So currently, it's not an approved school. We don't know why it wasn't approved, but we do know that a few days before the vote, there was an email from the founder that made its rounds, and it said that instead of the 400 or so K-12 students it said in its application that it was going to serve, it had pared its expectations down to maybe 10 high school students. So viability may have been the reason why those three board members ultimately voted against.
Layden: But the legal battle is not over, right?
Wallis: Right. The board is appealing, which is an interesting step considering the judge's decision is what they wanted. And according to the attorney general's office, a party that asks for a court order and receives it cannot appeal.
But the way this case is set up is kind of this perfect recipe to escalate it to the Supreme Court. Both sides are in favor of the school. So no matter what a judge rules, the losing side can just keep appealing. And because there's no apparent reason for a Supreme Court justice to recuse themselves this time like they did with St. Isidore, if SCOTUS takes it up, the conservative majority is likely to set a precedent that would fundamentally change the fabric of public education in America.
Layden: Such a complicated issue. Thank you for explaining it to us. Beth Wallis, StateImpact Oklahoma education reporter.
Wallis: Thank you for having me.
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