Facts
- Oklahoma’s statutory scheme includes charter schools in the State’s system of free public schools; charter schools are publicly funded and sponsored by a governmental entity.
- The Oklahoma Charter Schools Act generally requires charter schools to be nonsectarian in their programs, admission policies, employment practices, and other operations, and it bars affiliation with a religious institution.
- In 2023, the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board (the Board) approved an application to establish and sponsor St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School (St. Isidore) as a statewide virtual charter school.
- St. Isidore was a private corporation supported by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa and was candidly religious in identity and planned to include Catholic faith instruction and religious activities in its educational model.
- The Board approved and entered a charter contract with St. Isidore that recognized St. Isidore’s status and protections as a religious organization and contemplated operation consistent with Catholic beliefs and practices.
- Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, ex rel. the State of Oklahoma, filed an original action in the Oklahoma Supreme Court seeking (1) a writ of mandamus directing the Board to rescind the St. Isidore contract and (2) a declaratory judgment that the contract violated state law and the United States Constitution.
Issues
- Whether a charter school created and funded under the Oklahoma Charter Schools Act is a public school and a state actor for state and federal constitutional purposes.
- Whether the Board had statutory authority to approve and contract with an openly sectarian virtual charter school in light of the Act’s nonsectarian and no-affiliation requirements.
- Whether authorizing and funding a sectarian charter school through a state charter contract violates the Oklahoma Constitution and the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
Decision
- The Oklahoma Supreme Court assumed original jurisdiction over the Attorney General’s petition for extraordinary relief.
- The court held that a charter school operating under the Oklahoma Charter Schools Act is a public school, a governmental entity, and a state actor.
- The court declared the St. Isidore charter contract unlawful under the Oklahoma Constitution and the Oklahoma Charter Schools Act because it authorized a sectarian public charter school contrary to the Act’s nonsectarian and no-affiliation limits and the State Constitution’s restrictions on sectarian public schooling and funding.
- The court concluded the contract also violated the Establishment Clause because the State, through a public-school instrumentality, would be funding and operating a religious school with religious instruction and activities as part of the school’s program.
- The court granted mandamus and declaratory relief and directed the Board to rescind the charter contract with St. Isidore.
Legal Principles
- Charter schools created, funded, and overseen as part of a state’s public-school system may constitute governmental entities whose actions are attributable to the State for constitutional analysis.
- When the charter-school statute requires nonsectarian programs and bars religious affiliation, a chartering authority exceeds its lawful power by approving a charter contract that authorizes sectarian instruction, sectarian operations, or contractual terms treating the school as a religious organization while functioning as a public school.
- State constitutional provisions governing “free public schools” and restricting the use of public funds for sectarian purposes can bar the State from creating or sponsoring a religious public school through a charter arrangement.
- The Establishment Clause prohibits the State from creating and funding a public school that provides religious instruction and religious exercises as part of its state-authorized educational program.
Conclusion
In Drummond v. Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board, the Oklahoma Supreme Court held that a charter school established under Oklahoma’s charter framework is a public school and state actor, and it ruled that the Board’s contract authorizing St. Isidore as a sectarian Catholic virtual charter school violated the Oklahoma Charter Schools Act, the Oklahoma Constitution, and the federal Establishment Clause; the court granted declaratory and mandamus relief and ordered the Board to rescind the contract.