{"id":18367,"date":"2023-10-21T23:17:34","date_gmt":"2023-10-21T23:17:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/leadership\/oklahoma-attorney-general-sues-to-stop-nations-first-religious-charter-school\/"},"modified":"2023-10-21T23:17:36","modified_gmt":"2023-10-21T23:17:36","slug":"oklahoma-attorney-general-sues-to-stop-nations-first-religious-charter-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=18367","title":{"rendered":"Oklahoma Attorney General Sues To Stop Nation\u2019s First Religious Charter School"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Attorney General Gentner Drummond has fought every step of the way against the movement to create the nation\u2019s first taxpayer-funded religious charter school, and he\u2019s not giving up yet.<\/p>\n

Last December, Oklahoma\u2019s former Attorney General John O’Connor issued an opinion stating that in light of recent Supreme Court decisions, he believes that the SCOTUS would “very likely” find unconstitutional the state requirement that charter schools be non-sectarian. The Catholic Church was ready to test that theory; it was in anticipation of their application that the state\u2019s virtual charter board asked the O\u2019Connor for an opinion in the first place.<\/p>\n

The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City collaborated with the Diocese of Tulsa to propose a virtual charter\u2014St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, named for a sixth-century catholic bishop and scholar, who is patron saint of the internet (a “saint who can help us find what we need as well as protect us from the darker side of the World Wide Web”).<\/p>\n

There was no question of the church\u2019s intent. An AP report noted, \u201cArchdiocese officials have been unequivocal that the school will promote the Catholic faith and operate according to church doctrine, including its views on sexual orientation and gender identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/fbs-ad><\/p>\n

AG John O\u2019Connor was a Trump nominee for a United States district judge in 2018; the American Bar Association rated him \u201cnot qualified,\u201d and his nomination was withdrawn. After Oklahoma\u2019s previous attorney general resigned in May of 2021 over \u201cpersonal matters,\u201d Governor Stitt appointed O\u2019Connor to the office. O\u2019Connor ran for the office this year and was defeated in the primary, making him a lame duck in the office when he offered his opinion.<\/p>\n

The Republican who defeated him was Gentner Drummond. Once in office, Drummond said he was out to \u201cright the direction of the state\u201d and started undoing some of his predecessor\u2019s work. He dropped a lawsuit against Class Wallet that blamed them for mishandling public funds, and he reversed the AG opinion about the legality of a religious charter school.<\/p>\n

Drummond argued that the O\u2019Connor opinion \u201cmisuses the concept of religious liberty by employing it as a means to justify state-funded religion. If allowed to remain in force, I fear the opinion will be used as a basis for taxpayer-funded religious schools.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drummond warned of a \u201cslippery slope.\u201d The virtual charter review board ignored him and approved St. Isidore anyway.<\/p>\n

Governor Stitt hailed it as \u201ca win for religious liberty and education freedom in our great state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drummond called the decision \u201ccontrary to Oklahoma law and not in the best interests of taxpayers.\u201d Furthermore, “It\u2019s extremely disappointing that board members violated their oath in order to fund religious schools with our tax dollars. In doing so, these members have exposed themselves and the state to potential legal action that could be costly.\u201d<\/p>\n

A group of parents, faith leaders and educators filed a lawsuit shortly thereafter. The Rev. Lori Walke, senior minister at Mayflower Congregational Church in Oklahoma City and one of the plaintiffs in the case, said, \u201cCreating a religious public charter school is not religious freedom… when we entangle religious schools to the government \u2026 we endanger religious freedom for all of us.\u201d That lawsuit has not yet been resolved.<\/p>\n

But now Drummond has joined the legal fray. He has sued the virtual charter board as well as members of the statewide charter board.<\/p>\n

His position remains consistent. \u201cThere is no religious freedom in compelling Oklahomans to fund religions that may violate their own deeply held beliefs,\u201d Drummond said. \u201cThe framers of the U.S. Constitution and those who drafted Oklahoma\u2019s Constitution clearly understood how best to protect religious freedom: by preventing the State from sponsoring any religion at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit itself minces no words.<\/p>\n

The Oklahoma Attorney General is compelled, as chief law officer of the State, to file this original action to repudiate the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board\u2019s (\u201cthe Board\u201d) Members\u2019 intentional violation of their oath of office and disregard for the clear and unambiguous provisions of the Oklahoma Constitution<\/em><\/p>\n

The suit seeks \u201cto undo the unlawful sponsorship\u201d of St. Isidore\u2019s. The suit says that the AG \u201cis duty bound to file this original action to protect religious liberty and prevent the type of state- funded religion that Oklahoma\u2019s constitutional framers and the founders of our country sought to prevent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Make no mistake, if the Catholic Church were permitted to have a public virtual charter school, a reckoning will follow in which this State will be faced with the unprecedented quandary of processing requests to directly fund all petitioning sectarian groups…For example, this reckoning will require the State to permit extreme sects of the Muslim faith to establish a taxpayer funded public charter school teaching Sharia Law. Consequently, absent the intervention of this Court, the Board members\u2019 shortsighted votes in violation of their oath of office and the law will pave the way for a proliferation of the direct public funding of religious schools whose tenets are diametrically opposed by most Oklahomans.<\/em><\/p>\n

In sum, despite the clear and unambiguous language of Oklahoma\u2019s Constitution and statutes, the will of Oklahoma\u2019s voters who soundly rejected amending Oklahoma\u2019s Constitution in 2016 to allow public money to be applied to sectarian organizations, and the legal advice by the chief law officer of this State, the Board members violated their plain legal duty to deny sponsorship of St. Isidore. Accordingly, this Court must remediate the Board\u2019s unlawful action.<\/em><\/p>\n

Drummond\u2019s argument relies heavily on the claim that this charter is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. That\u2019s a telling position to stake out, as the Supreme Court\u2019s decisions that figured in O\u2019Connor\u2019s opinion rest on setting the Free Exercise Clause as having greater weight than the Establishment Clause.<\/p>\n

Amanda Marcotte has argued that supporters of the religious charter are hoping for a showdown between Drummond\u2019s argument and the Supreme Court that could knock another brick out of the wall between church and state. If so, they now have two chances to get their wish.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Attorney General Gentner Drummond has fought every step of the way against the movement to create the nation\u2019s first taxpayer-funded religious charter school, and he\u2019s not giving up yet. Last December, Oklahoma\u2019s former Attorney General John O’Connor issued an opinion stating that in light of recent Supreme Court decisions, he believes that the SCOTUS would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-18367","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leadership"},"yoast_head":"\nOklahoma Attorney General Sues To Stop Nation\u2019s First Religious Charter School | Brandiary<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Attorney General Gentner Drummond has fought every step of the way against the movement to create the nation\u2019s first taxpayer-funded religious charter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=18367\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Oklahoma Attorney General Sues To Stop Nation\u2019s First Religious Charter School | Brandiary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Attorney General Gentner Drummond has fought every step of the way against the movement to create the nation\u2019s first taxpayer-funded religious charter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=18367\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Brandiary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-21T23:17:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-21T23:17:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/1697930255_0x0.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"News Room\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"News Room\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=18367#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=18367\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"News Room\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5062dafb0f932b59aa228f1a047332f4\"},\"headline\":\"Oklahoma Attorney General Sues To Stop Nation\u2019s First Religious Charter School\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-21T23:17:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-21T23:17:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=18367\"},\"wordCount\":1044,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Leadership\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=18367#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=18367\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=18367\",\"name\":\"Oklahoma Attorney General Sues To Stop Nation\u2019s First Religious Charter School | Brandiary\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-21T23:17:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-21T23:17:36+00:00\",\"description\":\"Attorney General Gentner Drummond has fought every step of the way against the movement to create the nation\u2019s first taxpayer-funded religious charter\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=18367#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=18367\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=18367#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Oklahoma Attorney General Sues To Stop Nation\u2019s First Religious Charter School\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/\",\"name\":\"Brandiary\",\"description\":\"Latest Business and Startup News and Updates\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Brandiary\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/b-logo-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/b-logo-1.png\",\"width\":381,\"height\":100,\"caption\":\"Brandiary\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5062dafb0f932b59aa228f1a047332f4\",\"name\":\"News Room\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/avatar_user_1_1688031660-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/avatar_user_1_1688031660-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"News Room\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Oklahoma Attorney General Sues To Stop Nation\u2019s First Religious Charter School | Brandiary","description":"Attorney General Gentner Drummond has fought every step of the way against the movement to create the nation\u2019s first taxpayer-funded religious charter","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=18367","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Oklahoma Attorney General Sues To Stop Nation\u2019s First Religious Charter School | Brandiary","og_description":"Attorney General Gentner Drummond has fought every step of the way against the movement to create the nation\u2019s first taxpayer-funded religious charter","og_url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=18367","og_site_name":"Brandiary","article_published_time":"2023-10-21T23:17:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-10-21T23:17:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1350,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/1697930255_0x0.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"News Room","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"News Room","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=18367#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=18367"},"author":{"name":"News Room","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5062dafb0f932b59aa228f1a047332f4"},"headline":"Oklahoma Attorney General Sues To Stop Nation\u2019s First Religious Charter School","datePublished":"2023-10-21T23:17:34+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-21T23:17:36+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=18367"},"wordCount":1044,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Leadership"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=18367#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=18367","url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=18367","name":"Oklahoma Attorney General Sues To Stop Nation\u2019s First Religious Charter School | Brandiary","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-10-21T23:17:34+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-21T23:17:36+00:00","description":"Attorney General Gentner Drummond has fought every step of the way against the movement to create the nation\u2019s first taxpayer-funded religious charter","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=18367#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=18367"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=18367#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Oklahoma Attorney General Sues To Stop Nation\u2019s First Religious Charter School"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/","name":"Brandiary","description":"Latest Business and Startup News and Updates","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#organization","name":"Brandiary","url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/b-logo-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/b-logo-1.png","width":381,"height":100,"caption":"Brandiary"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5062dafb0f932b59aa228f1a047332f4","name":"News Room","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/avatar_user_1_1688031660-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/avatar_user_1_1688031660-96x96.png","caption":"News Room"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com"],"url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18367"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18369,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18367\/revisions\/18369"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}