Oklahoma school board approves what would be the 1st taxpayer-funded religious school in US

OKLAHOMA CITY — A state school board in Oklahoma voted Monday to approve what would be the first publicly funded religious school in the country, in spite of a caution from the state’s legal professional basic that the choice was once unconstitutional.

The Statewide Virtual Charter School Board voted 3-2 to approve the utility through the Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma to determine the St. Isodore of Seville Virtual Charter School. The on-line public constitution school would be open to scholars throughout the state in kindergarten thru grade 12.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond had warned the board that this sort of choice obviously violated the Oklahoma Constitution.

“The approval of any publicly funded religious school is contrary to Oklahoma law and not in the best interest of taxpayers,” Drummond stated in a remark in a while after the board’s vote. “It’s extremely disappointing that board members violated their oath in order to fund religious schools with our tax dollars. In doing so, these members have exposed themselves and the state to potential legal action that could be costly.”

The Archdiocese of Oklahoma stated in the “vision and purpose of the organization” segment of its utility that: “The Catholic school participates in the evangelizing mission of the Church and is the privileged environment in which Christian education is carried out.”

Brett Farley, the executive director of the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma, said: “We are elated that the board agreed with our argument and application for the nation’s first religious charter school.”

Americans United for Separation of Church and State denounced the board’s approval.

“It’s hard to think of a clearer violation of the religious freedom of Oklahoma taxpayers and public-school families than the state establishing the nation’s first religious public charter school,” the group’s president and CEO Rachel Laser said in a statement. “This is a sea change for American democracy. Americans United will work with our Oklahoma and national partners to take all possible legal action to fight this decision and defend the separation of church and state that’s promised in both the Oklahoma and U.S. Constitutions.”

Oklahoma’s Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, who previous this 12 months signed a invoice that would give oldsters in the state a tax incentive to ship their kids to non-public faculties, together with religious faculties, praised the board’s vote.

“This is a win for religious liberty and training freedom in our nice state, and I’m inspired through those efforts to offer oldsters extra choices in the case of their kid’s training,” Stitt stated in a remark.