OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma board’s approval of what could be the nation’s first publicly funded spiritual faculty is unconstitutional and have to be rescinded, the state Supreme Court docket dominated on Tuesday.
The excessive court docket decided the Statewide Digital Constitution College Board’s 3-2 vote final yr to approve the applying by the Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma for the St. Isidore of Seville Digital Constitution College violates each the Oklahoma and U.S. constitutions, in addition to state regulation.
“Beneath Oklahoma regulation, a constitution faculty is a public faculty,” the court docket wrote. “As such, a constitution faculty have to be nonsectarian.
“Nonetheless, St. Isidore will evangelize the Catholic faculty curriculum whereas sponsored by the state.”
The net public constitution faculty would have been open to college students throughout the state in kindergarten by means of grade 12, and a part of its mission would have been to evangelize its college students within the Catholic religion.
The case is being intently watched as a result of supporters of the varsity imagine latest U.S. Supreme Court docket selections have indicated the court docket is extra open to public funds going to non secular entities.
Oklahoma’s Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt and State Superintendent Ryan Walters supported the board’s approval of the varsity.