Supreme Court Deadlocks, Leaves in Place Block on Nation’s First Religious Charter School

With a tie result, the high court upholds an Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling that found it was unconstitutional to give the school taxpayer money.

The U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on May 19, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The U.S. Supreme Court on May 22 voted 4–4 to reject authorization for the nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself and did not participate in the case known as Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond. The respondent is Gentner Drummond, Oklahoma’s attorney general.

The Supreme Court’s unsigned opinion consists of one sentence: “The judgment is affirmed by an equally divided Court.” No reasons for the ruling were provided. How the individual justices voted was not disclosed.

As the vote resulted in a tie, under court rules, the lower court ruling being appealed is affirmed.

The school is St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, a K–12 institution in Oklahoma City approved by the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board.

A charter school is a school that accepts funding from the government but operates independently outside the established state school system.

The Oklahoma Charter Schools Act permits most “private organizations” to found charter schools by making a contract with a sponsor, but religious organizations are not eligible, the school’s petition, filed in October 2024, said.

The charter school has to be “nonsectarian in its programs, admission policies, employment practices, and all other operations,” the petition said.

The petition states that the Oklahoma Constitution provides that the state should maintain a “system of public schools ... free from sectarian control.” Sectarian control means control by a religious sect or organization.

One school board member said in June 2023 that the board had to approve the application because failing to do so would violate the U.S. Constitution’s free exercise clause, which all board members had sworn to uphold, according to the petition.

Drummond sued in October 2023, asking the Oklahoma Supreme Court to cancel the school’s contract and declare it violates the U.S. Constitution’s establishment clause, state law, and the state constitution.

Drummond argued that not revoking the authorization would lead to the state receiving school funding requests from “extreme sects of the Muslim faith to establish a taxpayer funded public charter school teaching Sharia Law,” the petition said.

On June 25, 2024, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled against the school, ordering the school board to cancel the contract and finding that the school was a governmental entity.

The state’s high court determined that, since the school was deemed a state actor, denying it charter status did not violate the free exercise clause.

The state court also found that the school’s contract with the school board violated the Oklahoma Constitution’s prohibition against “using public money for the benefit or support of any religious institution.”

The school board’s attorney, James Campbell, was disappointed by the new U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

“Oklahoma parents and children are better off with more educational choices, not fewer,” he told The Epoch Times.

However, he said, “the 4–4 decision does not set precedent, allowing the court to revisit this issue in the future.”

“The U.S. Supreme Court has been clear that when the government creates programs and invites groups to participate, it can’t single out religious groups for exclusion, and we will continue our work to protect this vital freedom for parents and students,” said Campbell, who is also chief legal counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom.