Oklahoma approved Monday the first religious charter schools in the U.S.

On Monday, the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board voted 3-2 to approve St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. This charter school will be funded by tax payers and managed by the Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City.

St. Isidore will teach religious lessons in the curriculum. The school, named for the patron saint of internet, has a mission “to educate the whole child: heart, soul, intellect, and body.”

The school plans to offer online classes in 2024 to 500 students from kindergarten to grade 12. According to BBC, the school will receive approximately $23.3 million from state funding over its first five-year period.

Republicans from top state offices disagreed over whether religious charter schools were allowed.

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt has praised the “courage” of the board to authorize St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual school. This is a victory for religious freedom and education in our great State, and I’m encouraged by this effort to give parents more choices when it comes their child’s educational needs.

Gentner Drummond is the Republican Attorney General of Oklahoma. He released a press release saying that the approval of the school was “contrary” to Oklahoma law, and not in taxpayers’ best interests.

Drummond claimed that the board members had “violated their oath to fund religious school with our tax dollars,” and “exposed them and the State to possible legal action which could be expensive.”

Stitt stated his “strong disapproval” of Drummond’s non-binding opinion opposing the school in February. Drummond’s former predecessor, John O’Connor released an opposing opinion in support of the school.

The Oklahoma State Constitution, Section II-5, prohibits the use of public funds “directly or indirect” for “use, benefit or support” of churches, religious organizations, and ministers.

It is likely that the school will face legal challenges. Americans United for the Separation of Church and State filed a lawsuit within minutes of the vote of the school board. ACLU announced on Tuesday that it would also challenge the constitutionality of the school, saying, “Our public education must be free from indoctrination by religion and open to every student.”

Rachel Laser, the president of Americans United, said, “It is hard to imagine a more blatant violation of religious freedom for Oklahoma taxpayers and families of public school students than the state’s establishment of the nation’s very first religious charter public school.”

In 2020 and 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two decisions expanding the states’ ability indirectly to fund religious schools via voucher programs. Chief Justice John Roberts stated that states are not required by law to support religious education but they cannot exclude religious schools from funding if the state chooses to do so.

According to the New York Times report, those who support the board’s decisions use a similar argument. They claim that exempting religious schools from funding under charter schools would violate their First Amendment rights of Free Exercise Clause.