A new religious charter school could open in Oklahoma. The last one was ruled illegal.

A second attempt to use taxpayer dollars for religious indoctrination exposes a coordinated assault on church–state separation

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Could Oklahoma be home to the nation’s first taxpayer-funded religious charter school?

If it sounds like a story you’ve heard before, you’re right. It’s happening again.

Years ago, the Republicans on the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board gave a stamp of approval to the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. Unlike public schools, St. Isidore of Seville would not have required teachers to be certified, would not have to accept openly LGBTQ teachers, and would explicitly promote Catholic doctrine during school hours. There was also the possibility that students who became pregnant could get expelled—along with trans students just for existing—and that sex education would be omitted from the curriculum. In addition, this kind of school wouldn’t have the resources to take on special needs students.

This wasn’t a charter school that happened to be Catholic. This was a Catholic school that wanted public funding, so they called themselves a charter school.

It was given a green light to open… until the state’s highest court stopped them. That 7-1 decision was a clear defense of church/state separation, with the justices saying that funding the religious school violated both the state and federal constitutions.

An appeal went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, but after Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself from the case, her colleagues were deadlocked 4-4, which left the earlier ruling in place, ending the threat.

Now another religious group is trying to finish what the Catholics started.

Earlier this month, when the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board held its monthly board meeting, they were given an update on the status of various applications. They were told one of the eight schools applying for approval was a “virtual religious charter high school.”

It didn’t take long for the details to come out. The school in question would be the Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School. As the Oklahoma Voice explained:

Leading the latest effort is the National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation, whose representative, Peter Deutsch, founded six non-religious Hebrew-English charter schools in Florida known as the Ben Gamla charter schools.

Deutsch, a former Democratic U.S. representative, submitted a letter of intent on Nov. 3 to apply for charter authorization with the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board. A formal application has not yet been submitted for the school, and the board cannot take a vote until that happens.

“Ben Gamla envisions Oklahoma students gaining a rigorous, values-based education that integrates general academic excellence with Jewish religious learning and ethical development,” Deutsch wrote.

Deutsch said the foundation that would submit the Oklahoma application is completely separate from an organization of a similar name that governs the Florida schools.

He added that the potential school would deliver “Oklahoma’s state-approved academic standards alongside Jewish religious studies, enabling students to achieve college readiness while developing deep Jewish knowledge, faith, and values within a supportive learning community.”

Deutsch has already launched a handful of secular charter schools in Florida, with a focus on Hebrew language and culture, but this one in Oklahoma would be explicitly religious in nature.

Former Democratic congressman Peter Deutsch doing a campaign endorsement for Donald Trump in 2024 (screenshot via YouTube)

In fact, before the Supreme Court weighed in on St. Isidore, Deutsch made clear he looked to that school as a model:

When Oklahoma approved St. Isidore, Deutsch traveled there, hoping to fulfill his original vision of a publicly funded Jewish school. However, after speaking with rabbis and Jewish parents, he concluded that the state’s small Jewish population made the idea impractical.

So he wasn’t bothered by the church/state implications of it all. He was only concerned there wouldn’t be enough students enrolled. On paper, these are the same kinds of schools. The only difference is that if this inevitable lawsuit reached the Supreme Court, Barrett wouldn’t have to recuse herself and the conservatives might finally rule in their favor.

[Deutsch] also noted the U.S. Supreme Court’s tie vote in the St. Isidore case, from which Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself, calling the debate over religious charter schools an “unanswered question.”

“I work under the assumption today that religious charter schools are legal and eventually we’ll have a decision to validate the law as I see it today,” Deutsch said.

And wouldn’t you know it, the Oklahoma Voice noted that one of the three founders for this Jewish school, Brett Farley, was also a board member for St. Isidore. Either Farley has no religious allegiance whatsoever or he’s committed to the conservative idea that taxpayers should fund religious indoctrination and he’ll use any religion he can to pry open that door.

The plan for the new school is to open in the fall of 2026 if approved.

While there’s no formal application yet, and the the board hasn’t voted to move forward with the school, the attorney general has already stated his commitment to fighting this project just as he did the last one:

“This matter has already been resolved after the state Supreme Court’s ruling to prevent taxpayer funded religious charter schools was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year,” Leslie Berger, a spokesperson for [Attorney General Gentner Drummond], said Monday. “Our office will oppose any attempts to undermine the rule of law.”

Meanwhile, Americans United for Separation of Church and State isn’t wasting any time. They’ve sent a letter to the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board asking for details about this school and essentially warning them that this situation will end the same way as the last one if they choose to approve the eventual application.

“As the Oklahoma Supreme Court recently affirmed in the case of St. Isidore, charter schools are public schools that must be secular and open to all students,” said AU President and CEO Rachel Laser. “Despite their loss earlier this year at the U.S. Supreme Court, religious extremists once again are trying to undermine our country’s promise of church-state separation by forcing Oklahoma taxpayers to fund a religious public school. Not on our watch. Just as we did in our lawsuit to block St. Isidore and in the cases we continue to litigate against former Superintendent Ryan Walters’ extremist schemes, Americans United is prepared to do whatever it takes to safeguard public education and religious freedom for all Oklahomans.”

Incidentally, Deutsch was a Democratic congressman from Florida from 1993-2005. But in 2024, he endorsed Donald Trump because of Trump’s supposed commitment to immigration policy, school choice, and—I kid you not—”world peace.” All of which is to say this is not a guy with a reputation for clear thinking.

This plan needs to be stopped in its tracks. This is yet another attempt to turn public education into a taxpayer-funded battleground for religious indoctrination. It’s all about exploiting a loophole by siphoning public money into sectarian projects that explicitly reject the kinds of obligations public schools have: inclusivity, non-discrimination, professional standards, and a curriculum grounded in fact rather than dogma. This isn’t about school choice. It’s a deliberate attempt to dismantle the wall between church and state.

That this is happening in Oklahoma again isn’t a coincidence. It’s a strategy. The conservative bent of the state makes it more likely to say yes to these kinds of grifts. And if one group succeeds, you can bet every religious institution in the country will line up to follow suit, ready to decimate public education in order to boost a patchwork of free religious schools. Once that door is opened, it will be next to impossible to close. The end result wouldn’t be a richer educational landscape. It would be a broken system where public dollars fund private belief.

Oklahoma has already been down this road before, and thanks to the state’s attorney general and Supreme Court, they avoided making a terrible mistake. But the U.S. Supreme Court is a threat that isn’t going away. And Drummond won’t be attorney general for much longer. That’s why this latest scheme needs to be stopped decisively, loudly, and without hesitation. Because if religious charter schools are allowed to take root, the damage won’t be limited to one state. It could undermine the very idea of public schools that serve everyone.

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