OKLAHOMA CITY — A bunch of oldsters, religion leaders and a public schooling nonprofit sued Monday to cease Oklahoma from establishing and funding what could be the nation’s first spiritual public constitution faculty.
The lawsuit filed in Oklahoma County District Court seeks to cease taxpayer funds from going to the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. The Statewide Virtual Charter School Board voted 3-2 final month to approve the appliance by the Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City to determine the varsity, and the board and its members are amongst these listed as defendants.
The vote got here regardless of a warning from Oklahoma’s Republican lawyer normal that such a faculty would violate each state legislation and the Oklahoma Constitution.
The Rev. Lori Walke, senior minister at Mayflower Congregational Church in Oklahoma City and one of many plaintiffs within the case, mentioned she joined the lawsuit as a result of she believes strongly in spiritual freedom.
“Creating a religious public charter school is not religious freedom,” Walke mentioned. “Our churches already have the religious freedom to start our own schools if we choose to do so. And parents already have the freedom to send their children to those religious schools. But when we entangle religious schools to the government … we endanger religious freedom for all of us.”
The approval of a publicly funded spiritual faculty is the newest in a sequence of actions taken by conservative-led states that embrace efforts to show the Bible in public faculties, and to ban books and classes about race, sexual orientation and gender identification, mentioned Rachel Laser, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which is amongst a number of teams representing the plaintiffs within the case.
“We are witnessing a full-on assault of church-state separation and public education, and religious public charter schools are the next frontier,” Laser mentioned.
Oklahoma’s Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt earlier this 12 months signed a invoice that might give dad and mom within the state a tax incentive to ship their youngsters to personal faculties, together with spiritual faculties.
The Archdiocese of Oklahoma mentioned in its utility to run the constitution faculty: “The Catholic school participates in the evangelizing mission of the Church and is the privileged environment in which Christian education is carried out.”
Rebecca Wilkinson, the chief director of the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board, mentioned in an e mail to The Associated Press that the board hadn’t been formally notified of the lawsuit Monday afternoon and that the company wouldn’t touch upon pending litigation.
A authorized problem to the board’s utility approval was anticipated, mentioned Brett Farley, the chief director of the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma.
“News of a suit from these organizations comes as no surprise since they have indicated early in this process their intentions to litigate,” Farley mentioned in a textual content message to the AP. “We remain confident that the Oklahoma court will ultimately agree with the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion in favor of religious liberty.”
Stitt, who beforehand praised the board’s resolution as a “win for religious liberty and education freedom,” reiterated that place on Monday.
“To unlock more school options, I’m supportive of that,” Stitt mentioned.
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