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2023 Regent Univ. L. Rev. Pro Tempore [i] (2023)

handle is hein.journals/regunlwre2023 and id is 1 raw text is: 2023 Regent University Law Review Pro Tempore No. 1 RELIGIOUS CHARTER SCHOOLS: THE TIME HAS COME ABSTRACT On December 1, 2022, then-Oklahoma Attorney General John M. O'Connor issued an Opinion declaring that Oklahoma's ban on sectarian charter schools was likely unconstitutional. This Opinion wasn't issued in a vacuum. First, the school choice and parents' rights movement of the last thirty years has put tremendous pressure on states to expand options available to parents to educate their kids including charter schools. Second, beginning in 2017 and ending in 2022, the Supreme Court issued three opinions that reshaped the legal landscape in terms of state funding and religious education. While Oklahoma is the first state to wade into the debate over religious charter schools, it will not be the last. The issue will be litigated for years all the way to the Supreme Court. This short Article addresses whether states that authorize charter schools must approve religious charter schools. Part I provides a brief overview of charter schools. Part II summarizes the recent Supreme Court decisions that provide the legal framework for addressing the question. Part III applies those decisions to religious charter schools and concludes that the Free Exercise Clause mandates that states fund religious charter schools, at least under current state law regimes. *S. Ernie Walton, Assistant Professor, Regent University School of Law; J.D., Regent University School of Law; B.S., Houghton College. **The Author would like to thank Professor Nicole Stelle Garnett and Christian Edmonds for their helpful comments.