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1 1 (July 22, 2025)

handle is hein.crs/akjbge0001 and id is 1 raw text is: SCongressional ______ SRes'earch Service Religious Charter Schools Remain Unlawful in Oklahoma After Supreme Court Judgment July 22, 2025 On May 22, 2025, the Supreme Court affirmed a state court opinion ruling that Oklahoma could not authorize or fund a religious charter school. The appeal in Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond implicated a number of open constitutional questions, including whether charter schools qualify as governmental entities, whether funding religious charter schools would violate the U.S. Constitution's Establishment Clause, and whether excluding religious schools from the charter school program would violate the Free Exercise Clause. Ultimately, however, the Supreme Court did not weigh in on these questions. Instead, the Court split 4-4 and affirmed the judgment below in a one-sentence order. (Justice Barrett had recused herself from the case, meaning only eight of the nine Justices were participating.) This Legal Sidebar discusses the outcome, the decision below, and the legal questions left open by the Supreme Court's ruling-some of which implicate the federal charter school program. Factual Background As explained in a CRS In Focus, charter schools are typically operated by private organizations under a contract with the government known as a charter. They are publicly funded and tuition free but often have greater flexibility in their operations than traditional public schools. Oklahoma adopted a charter school law in 1999. Among other conditions, Oklahoma statute requires a charter school to be nonsectarian in its programs, admission policies, employment practices, and all other operations. The statute also prohibits a charter school or program that is affiliated with a nonpublic sectarian school or religious institution. At issue in Drummond was St. Isidore, a nonprofit corporation formed by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa. In 2023, the St. Isidore corporation applied to Oklahoma's Charter School Board to establish a religious virtual charter school. The Charter School Board, which has the sole authority to sponsor virtual charter schools, voted to approve the application and executed a charter contract setting out the terms of sponsorship. The contract with St. Isidore differed from the model contract set out in a state manual. For instance, St. Isidore's contract did not contain standard provisions requiring the school to be nonsectarian, and the contract stated that St. Isidore would have certain certain rights, exemptions, or entitlements as a religious organization. Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov LSB11342 CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress