Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond
Issues
(1) Whether a privately owned school that participates in a state’s charter school program is a government entity or engages in state action; and (2) whether a state can exclude a privately owned school from its charter school program solely because it is religious.
This case asks the Supreme Court to determine if a state can exclude religious schools from participating in its charter school program. The state of Oklahoma operates a charter school program to which St. Isidore, a Catholic institution, applied. The Oklahoma Virtual Charter School Board (the “Board”) granted St. Isidore’s application. The Oklahoma Supreme Court ordered the state to revoke St. Isidore’s charter school contract because it is a religious school, and charter schools are public entities that must be nonsectarian under Oklahoma law. The Board contends that Oklahoma charter schools are not public entities engaged in state action, and thus the prohibition on sectarian charter schools violates its Free Exercise rights. Drummond contends that charter schools are public entities engaging in state action that a state can require to be nonsectarian without violating the Free Exercise Clause. This case touches upon important questions regarding the increasing prevalence of charter schools and their impact on equitable student achievement outcomes, as well as on protecting parental choice.
Questions as Framed for the Court by the Parties
(1) Whether the academic and pedagogical choices of a privately owned and run school constitute state action simply because it contracts with the state to offer a free educational option for interested students; and (2) whether a state violates the First Amendment's free exercise clause by excluding privately run religious schools from the state’s charter-school program solely because the schools are religious, or instead a state can justify such an exclusion by invoking anti-establishment interests that go further than the First Amendment's establishment clause requires.
The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa applied to establish St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School (“St. Isidore”) as an online charter school. Drummond v. Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board at 4. St.
Additional Resources
- Murray Evans, SCOTUS case involving St. Isidore, state charter school board will be heard in late April, The Oklahoman (Feb. 11, 2025).
- Amy Howe, Supreme Court will weigh in on effort to found nation’s first religious charter school, SCOTUSBlog (Jan. 24, 2025).
- Debra Cassens Weiss, Supreme Court will decide whether Oklahoma can fund Catholic charter school, ABAJournal (Jan. 27, 2025).