Late Friday afternoon, January 24, the US Supreme Court approved hearing the St. Isidore Catholic virtual charter school case, Statewide Charter School Board vs. Drummond.
The case contains several constitutional review questions with significant, national implications, including:
- Does the First Amendment require states to never allow public funds to support charter schools run by religiously-affiliated organizations, or does it require states to not prohibit the religious activity of organizations that meet all state requirements to provide schools?
- Are private organizations that operate a charter school a “state actor” required to abide by all legal and constitutional restraints that government entities have to follow?
- If the US Supreme Court upholds that all charter schools are state actors because they receive public funds, then will most charter schools in the US have to change (or cease) their operations, policies, and employment to match all requirements of state actors?
- If charter schools are state actors (as the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled last June), then will they have to be funded like traditional public schools? (In OK, traditional public schools receive approximately $14,000+ per student, but charter schools receive approximately $6,000 per student. Private schools in OK charge an average of $8,145 tuition per year. Source.)
- If states are allowed to discriminate against religious organizations from providing public benefits solely because they are religious, then which other contracted services from orphan care to immigration services must also be prohibited? (This case affects more than just education.)
- If St. Isidore Virtual Charter School is upheld to be constitutional, which Oklahoma laws and/or constitutional clauses will be struck as incompatible with the US Constitution?
As Vice Chair of the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board, I am listed on page 4 of the petition for a writ of certiorari, which was accepted this Friday by the US Supreme Court (and combined with another petition for cert to comprise one case). You can read the petition here.