Federal Judge Blocks Oklahoma Rule Barring Religious Charter Schools in Favor of Ben Gamla
A U.S. district judge granted a preliminary injunction preventing Oklahoma from enforcing a nonsectarian requirement on charter schools, clearing the way for the proposed Jewish Ben Gamla charter.
U.S. District Judge David Russell of the Western District of Oklahoma issued a preliminary injunction that stops the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board from applying a nonsectarian requirement to charter schools. The order follows a lawsuit by the National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation, which contends that denying a Jewish charter school on religious grounds breaches the First Amendment's Free Exercise Clause.
Russell referenced a long line of Supreme Court decisions and rejected the argument that a school labeled as public must be secular. Daniel Chen of Becket Law hailed the ruling as a correction of unconstitutional discrimination. The case drew support from a coalition including Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the ACLU, the Education Law Center, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and the Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice. The foundation had applied in December to open the school, but the board rejected the proposal earlier this year, prompting the legal challenge.
Why it matters
The ruling affirms that states cannot bar publicly funded charter schools solely because they have a religious character.
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