AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL FOR THE DEFENCE OF
GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS
Press Release 1051
AMERICA’S FIRST RELIGIOUS ‘PUBLIC’ SCHOOL ABANDONNED
From Americans United for Separation of Church and State
We are thrilled to share that Christian Nationalists and their allies have abandoned their push to open what would have been the nation's first religious public school. Administrators announced this week that St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School will not open its doors in Oklahoma as a religious public school; instead, Oklahoma Catholic leaders are doing what they should have done all along: opening a private, religious school.
This result comes after years of hard work by Americans United and our allies, along with Republican Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, challenging the state's approval and funding of St. Isidore every step of the way. We were on the ground in Oklahoma opposing the religious public school from the beginning. And finally, this summer, AU dismissed our lawsuit after the U.S. Supreme Court deadlocked in a similar case.
That left in place the Oklahoma Supreme Court's decision that a religious charter school would be unconstitutional – blocking the school from opening. But the school itself surrendering and officially abandoning its religious charter school plans completes the victory.
This is a significant win for Americans United and for church-state separation, and it's thanks to supporters like you. Together, we've proven not only that we can still win even in these challenging times, but that Americans United had a crucial role to play in that victory.
Rachel K. Laser
President and CEO
DOGS COMMENT
Unfortunately, here in Australia, we have thousands of religious ‘public’ schools which are publicly funded but private in purpose, ownership, access and administration. Like Americans United for Separation of Church and State,DOGS continue to oppose the public funding of such institutions.
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