Supreme Court Tie Voting Order Dooms Taxpayers in Oklahoma-funded Catholic Charter School
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court effectively ended an Oklahoma publicly funded Catholic charter school on Thursday, split into 4-4.
The result continued an Oklahoma court ruling that voided the vote of the state charter school board, approving St. Isidor, the Sevilla Catholic Virtual School, which would have been the first religious charter school in the country. But this has not been resolved nationwide.
The court’s word notice provides an unsatisfactory ending for one of the most closely followed cases of the term.
The Catholic Church in Oklahoma wants taxpayers to provide online charter schools with “the teachings of faithfulness to Jesus Christ.” Opponents warn that allowing it to blur the separation between church and state, cut money from public schools, and could overturn the rules of charter schools in nearly every state.
Only eight out of nine judges participated in the case. Justice Amy Coney Barrett did not explain her absence, but she was a good friend who once taught with Nicole Garnett, a law professor at Notre Dame, who was a consultant to the school.
This issue may return to the High Court in the future, with the prospect of all nine judges being able to attend.
The court followed its custom and did not provide a breakdown of the vote. But in last month’s debate, four conservative justices seemed likely to be related to the school, while three liberals seemed equally firm on the other side.
This made Chief Justice John Roberts seem to hold a significant vote and suggested that he achieve results with the Liberals 4-4.
The case was primarily a struggle to insert public schools in conservative-led states. These included a challenge of Louisiana’s requirement to post the Ten Commandments in the classroom, and the task of Oklahoma State School’s head, that the Bible is placed in public school classrooms.
St. Isidore, of K-12 Online School, plans to start classes with the first 200 enrollees last fall, part of its mission is to evangelize students of their Catholic faith.
The key question that has not been resolved is whether the school is public or private. Charter schools are considered public in Oklahoma and 45 other states and the District of Columbia they operate. North Dakota recently enacted legislation allowing charter schools.
They are free and open to everyone, receive state funding, comply with anti-discrimination laws, and are supervised by courses and tests. But they are also run by independent boards that are not part of the local public school system.
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