School Choice Game Changer? Supreme Court Case for First Catholic Charter School Begins Oral Arguments

This case seems to have the potential to be a game changer in the area of school choice, where those defending parental and religious rights have been making great strides in recent years.

(Kate Quiñones/CNA/National Catholic Register) — A Catholic charter school is appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court to approve the nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school in a case that could reshape school choice and religious freedom in the U.S.

In an opening brief filed on Wednesday, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School — a Catholic charter school managed by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma — maintained that it is religious discrimination for the state to withhold generally available funding solely because the school is religious.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court previously ordered Oklahoma’s charter school board to rescind the contract with St. Isidore in June, citing the First Amendment’s prohibition of laws that would establish a state religion.

Shortly after, both St. Isidore and the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board filed separate petitions to the U.S. Supreme Court in October 2024.