What’s next?
The Oklahoma state government has canceled the contract for St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual Charter School, which was set to be the first Catholic charter school of its kind in the U.S. This decision follows a series of legal challenges.
Oklahoma’s Attorney General, Gentner Drummond, announced that the Statewide Charter School Board unanimously decided to revoke the contract during their meeting on Monday. This action follows a ruling from the Oklahoma Supreme Court that declared the proposed school unconstitutional. The court determined that public funds cannot be used to support religious institutions.
St. Isidore was designed as a full-time, K-12, online Catholic charter school that welcomed students of all faiths. Drummond criticized the delay in acknowledging the court’s authority, stating that the board’s decision was necessary to protect religious freedom for all Oklahomans. He had previously sought a court order to enforce the ruling and threatened legal action against board members and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction if compliance was not achieved.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court denied St. Isidore’s request for a stay of the decision while they appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. As a result, the school will not be able to open for the 2024-25 academic year, leaving the 200 students who had enrolled in search of alternative educational options.
This legal battle takes place against the backdrop of recent Supreme Court rulings on the use of taxpayer funds for religious schools. In the 2022 case Carson v. Makin, the court ruled that Maine could not block families from using state tuition assistance for religious private schools. This decision has influenced similar cases, including a recent settlement in Vermont that aligned with the Carson ruling, ensuring that religious private schools are treated equally in tuition assistance programs.
Satan worshiping fools!
In my own experience having raised four children through the 60’s and to 70’s , I had to remove my youngest son from a Public High School and put him in a Private Catholic high school. Why, you ask! My son did not wish to act up in Public High School as a result he was picked on and abused daily! When speaking to the Principle he excused the Unruly and told my son he had to learn to adjust! After giving the School District Leadership I enrolled my son in the Catholic School where discipline was applied to the unruly and expectation for quality work was expected and respect for other students was expected and lack of would bring correction and discipline! My son found peace and acceptance!! Private schools are the Hallmark for education of your children!!
I agree that parochial and private schools are better than most public schools. They don’t tolerate the bad behavior of the student nor their parents. Many Public schools have little restriction on dress code, use of cell phones during class time and respect to the teachers and to other student. Teacher unions do not care about educating the students, only about the rights of the teachers. I saw one article that teachers also should have to take a test on the subject they teach.
I attended a Catholic School grades 1 thru 8 and when we were ready to go to public High School, the principle came to our school and welcomed us to our Freshman Year at Quakertown High. He went on to say we were so well educated that the kids from the area Religous schools were in some cases 2 years ahead of the public school kids. That was true since I was bored to death for the first year and a half at QCSHS and when we graduated it was like we only did a year and half in High School.