Oklahoma must allow taxpayer-funded Jewish religious charter school, judge rules

A federal judge in Oklahoma clears the way for a Jewish organization to establish the nation’s first taxpayer-funded religious charter school in a case over religious rights in American education that could eventually reach the US Supreme Court.

US District Judge David Russell in Oklahoma City issues a preliminary injunction blocking the state from excluding the National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation from Oklahoma’s charter program. State law requires charter schools to be nonsectarian.

Charter schools are considered public schools under Oklahoma law and draw taxpayer funds from the state government.

The judge says the restriction expressly discriminates against otherwise eligible schools solely because of their religious character in violation of the US Constitution’s First Amendment protection for the right to exercise one’s religion freely without government interference, known as the “free exercise clause.”

“A long line of Supreme Court precedent supports plaintiffs’ position,” writes Russell, an appointee of Republican former President Ronald Reagan.

Another provision of the First Amendment, called the “establishment clause,” restricts government officials from establishing or endorsing any particular religion or promoting religion over nonreligion.

Set up as alternatives to traditional public schools, charter schools typically operate under private management and often feature small class sizes, innovative teaching styles or a particular academic focus.

The judge blocks the Republican-led state from enforcing its state law. Several Oklahoma taxpayers and families intervened to defend the law after the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board, which had denied Ben Gamla’s application, opted not to oppose a ruling against the nonsectarian mandate.