Oklahoma Supreme Court says public funding for religious school unconstitutional

June 25 (UPI) -- The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled 6-2 that it is unconstitutional to publicly fund a religious charter school, setting up a potential appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The proposed St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School was the nation's first publicly funded religious school, but Sooner State's highest court ruled the funding "violates state and federal law and is unconstitutional."

The court said public funding for the religious charter school would create a "slippery slope" and ordered the Oklahoma Charter School Board to revoke its contract with the online school.

The school is intended to be an online Catholic school that mostly educates students in Oklahoma's rural areas and includes religious instruction in its curriculum.

Instead of operating as a private school that charges for tuition, state taxpayer dollars were used to fund the religious school.

The National Alliance of Public Charter Schools chief executive officer Eric Paisner, in a prepared statement, called the court's decision a "resounding victory for the integrity of public education."

"All charter schools are public schools," Paisner said, adding "charter schools, like all other public schools, may not be religious institutions."

Catholic Conference of Oklahoma executive director Brett Farley disagrees and told The Hill , "For anyone to say ... that all charter schools are public schools is disingenuous because each state has a different program."

"Charter schools are non-state actors because our framework is very loose," Farley added.

The ruling comes after the archdiocese spent several months seeking regulatory approval for the online school.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City can request the matter be reheard and could appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.