St. Isidore gaining supporters

The case for St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School now has a date for oral arguments to be heard before the United States Supreme Court: April 30.

The school has a growing list of supporters, too.

On March 12, the United States Solicitor General’s Office, 12 states and a diversity of religious groups, charter school organizations, state and federal officials, legal advocates, scholars and more filed friend-of-the-court briefs in support of St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School before the U.S. Supreme Court. Represented by Notre Dame Law School’s Lindsay and Matt Moroun Religious Liberty Clinic, Dechert LLP, and Perri Dunn PLLC, St. Isidore’s leaders are defending their right to participate in Oklahoma’s charter school program to bring a new educational opportunity to families across the state.

Oklahoma’s charter school program fosters educational pluralism and choice by supporting an array of independently designed, privately run schools that offer a variety of learning environments to all children.

St. Isidore was denied participation simply because it is Catholic.

“Oklahoma’s charter school program is about empowering families to choose the education that best fits their own kids. It encourages private educators to innovate and bring new high-quality schools to the table,” said John Meiser, director of Notre Dame Law School’s Religious Liberty Clinic. “St. Isidore asks for the simple freedom to join in and help expand those choices – the Constitution is clear that it cannot be denied that right simply because of its religion.”

“The Constitution forbids States from attempting to carve out religious schools from a program that generally permits private entities to receive public funds,” stated the amicus brief for the United States Solicitor General’s Office. “That rule applies with equal force here, to Oklahoma’s attempt to exclude a school from a charter-school program based solely on religious character. That restriction should have been a non-starter.”

“Catholic schools are among the oldest educational institutions in the United States,” wrote the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). “[They] have long provided a quality education to their students, Catholic and non-Catholic alike … Oklahoma does not need to subsidize private education, but it has wisely chosen to do so. And because it has, it cannot disqualify some private schools solely because they are religious.”

“Religious charter schools bridge the gap between the low cost of public and charter schools with the historical mission of religious schools to educate the underserved,” stated the amicus brief for South Carolina and eleven additional states. “And that is consistent with the design of the charter school system.”

"Religious institutions have historically provided important public services as part of their religious practices – services such as foster care, education, refugee and humanitarian aid, medical care, and many others,” stated the amicus brief for the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America. “(The decision below) would open the door for state governments to improperly interfere with, or even outright prohibit, a religious institution's provision of these services."

Additional supporters included Oklahoma Gov. J. Kevin Stitt, U.S. Sens. James Lankford, Josh Hawley, Kevin Cramer, Ted Budd and Ted Cruz, the Classical Charter Schools of America, Pinnacle Classical Academy, North Carolina Coalition for Charter Schools, Great Hearts Academies, Abraham Knowledge Academy, the Religious Freedom Institute, the Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty, the Christian Legal Society, EdChoice and the Manhattan Institute, among many others.