America's first public religious charter school is approved, already facing potential litigation

In breaking news, America's first public religious charter school has been approved in a major landmark decision sure to get some lawsuits going, mostly because the church and state are supposed to remain separate and the whole constitutional limits thing going on. This took place in Oklahoma in a split vote where the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board after months of debates, according to a report on Politico.

The education news article on Politico further said:

“Oklahomans support religious liberty for all and support an increasingly innovative educational system that expands choice,” Stitt said in a statement. “Today, with the nation watching, our state showed that we will not stand for religious discrimination.”

The state charter board voted against approving the application in April, though the decision allowed church leaders time to address board members’ concerns, then refile their request before Monday’s final vote.

“We are elated that the board agreed with our argument and application for the nation’s first religious charter school,” said Brett Farley, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma, in a statement. “Parents continue to demand more options for their kids, and we are committed to help provide them.”

It's important for readers to remember that charter schools ARE public schools. They take money from the public school district but operate on their own entity. A lot of charter schools have been busted in fraud schemes, but there's also many very good charter schools out there. They have more freedom to do their own hiring, set their own rules within limits, and even kick students out, whereas the traditional public schools struggle to expel rowdy students who ruin educational time for others, further putting America back in education.

Of course, there's pushback and there could be lawsuits over this too. Politico further reported that Attorney General Drummond had something to say about everything: "the approval of any publicly funded religious school is contrary to Oklahoma law and not in the best interest of taxpayers... It’s 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."

Stay tuned for the battle between church and state if this turns into a litigation.

Photo: Danslafrique, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons