Federal judge clears path for taxpayer-funded religious school in Oklahoma

The ruling in favor of Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School could open the floodgates for publicly funded religious indoctrination nationwide.

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In a blow to church/state separation, a federal judge has ruled in favor of a publicly funded religious school. It comes after the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board rejected the establishment of the Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School earlier this year because the state’s Supreme Court had previously ruled that using taxpayer dollars to fund a religious school would violate Oklahoma’s Constitution. Because of course it does.

Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School (screenshot via YouTube)

A little backstory is helpful here. A few years ago, the Statewide Charter School Board gave a stamp of approval to the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. This school very clearly intended to push Catholic doctrine on children. They wanted to use public dollars to do it and the state was giving them a green light.

But Oklahoma’s Attorney General Gentner Drummond (who’s currently running for governor) sued to prevent it, and 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.

Last year, some of the same right-wing zealots who pushed for a publicly funded Catholic school tried to do it again, this time with a Jewish school. They wanted the same board to approve the Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School in the hopes that if this inevitable situation ever reached the Supreme Court, Barrett wouldn’t have to recuse herself and the conservatives might finally rule in their favor.

That’s why conservatives didn’t sweat when the charter school board voted to reject the school’s application in February. It was a unanimous vote, with members saying their hands were tied because of the legal precedent. More specifically, the board cited 10 reasons the application was flawed, with the blatant sectarianism being just one of those reasons.

When a revised application was submitted afterwards, the same board said most of their concerns had been alleviated… but they still had to reject it due to the school’s “religious tenets.”

We knew—and they knew—how this would play out: The board members of the Jewish school would file a lawsuit citing religious discrimination by the state—which they did—and then judge after judge would say that’s not the issue here, and this would eventually be appealed to a sufficiently right-wing court.

Turns out the first judge in that chain isn’t following the plan.

Oklahoma Western District Judge David L. Russell (A Reagan appointee) ruled late last month that the state violated the First Amendment when it denied approval of the Jewish charter school due to religion. He said the Court is not expressing “judgment on the wisdom of the State of Oklahoma opening up its coffers to charter schools of disparate philosophical or educational persuasions,” but once it does, it can’t deny a school on account of its “religious character.”

It doesn’t mean the school is about to open, but it can now continue going through the steps of becoming an established school. They’ve overcome the biggest hurdle in front of them.

This decision, if it stands, could lead to a slew of taxpayer-funded religious schools.

The judge’s conclusion “opens the door to a dangerous sea change for our democracy,” the [pro-church/state separation] group’s legal team said in a statement.

“Forcing taxpayers to fund religious public schools violates state and federal law,” the attorneys said. “Ben Gamla will not only indoctrinate students into a particular religion — it will discriminate against families that don’t share the school’s beliefs. We will continue to fight for all Oklahomans, who deserve public schools that are secular and open to all students.”

…

“In 2024, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that a religious charter school violates the Oklahoma Constitution, state law and the U.S. Constitution,” Drummond said in a statement Thursday. “The U.S. Supreme Court left that decision in place last year.”

What that means in practice is that the Charter School Board will have to reconsider the school’s application at its next meeting. It’s worth noting that Attorney General Drummond also sued the board earlier this year saying they didn’t thoroughly explain all the existing problems with the school’s application. By simply citing the school’s faith, they were making it much easier for a right-wing judge to claim there was religious discrimination at play—and that’s precisely what happened here. Drummond’s lawsuit remains ongoing.

It’s entirely possible the charter school board still rejects Ben Gamla for a host of other reasons that don’t involve religion, as Drummond had demanded, but there’s now a possibility that they could say yes despite the proposed religious indoctrination.

It also means there will be more appeals and a longer legal fight. It’s not just me saying that; it’s what the lawyers for the school are saying:

Board attorney Hiram Sasser said no matter what the ruling is, it will likely be appealed to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.

“Whoever doesn’t like [the ruling] is going to appeal it to the Tenth Circuit, and so on and so forth,” Sasser said. “Frankly, probably all the way up until we break the 4-4 tie at the Supreme Court.”

This is a school that must be stopped before the floodgates are destroyed. The closer it gets to the Supreme Court, the more likely it is that we could see taxpayer dollars fund religious schools across the country—and those would be predominantly Christian in nature.

Remember: No one is stopping the school’s organizers from teaching Judaism, promoting religious doctrine, or opening a private religious school. The only issue here is whether taxpayers should finance their mission by allowing this place to operate as a public school. What Russell effectively said in his ruling is that the First Amendment guarantees religious groups access to public funds.

If that stands, it’s not going to end with a single Jewish school in Oklahoma. You can bet Christian Nationalist groups will help private schools across the country turn into state-funded public schools, imposing their beliefs on students and staff, while siphoning money away from already underfunded secular public schools.

If Ben Gamla succeeds, it wouldn’t be a victory for religious freedom. It would just be further erosion of our Constitution.

(via Religion Clause. Portions of this article were published earlier)

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