Supreme Court blocks Oklahoma taxpayer-funded charter school

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - In a 4-4 gridlock, the Supreme Court blocked Oklahoma’s taxpayer-funded religious charter school on Thursday.

The court posted two sentences with the update on this case:

“The judgement is affirmed by an equally divided Court. Justice Barrett took no part in the consideration of decision of the case.”

Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself because she is good friends with one of the key advisers on the charter school side. That left 8 justices to rule. The justices divided equally, that meant the lower court ruling stands.

At the center of the debate was the future of Saint Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, which was supposed to be a first in the nation online public and Catholic charter school.

The ruling did not further resolve the status of the school.

There are lots of Catholic and private schools nationwide; however, charter schools are public and eligible to receive state and federal funding. The difference is that they are chartered to operate outside of public-school systems.

The question of schools and the separation of church and state is expected to return to the nation’s highest court. Challenges to Oklahoma’s requirement to place Bibles in public school classrooms and Louisiana’s requirement to post the ten commandments in classrooms.

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