Is a charter school a public school? Does the Free Exercise Clause require taxpayers to fund charter schools that teach religion as truth? Is a charter school just a private organization with a state contract, or is it a state actor or even a governmental entity? Is Oklahoma on the brink of establishing the country’s first religious public school? Today, we’re tackling the oral arguments from another consequential Supreme Court case with some major implications for education. We usually only see these kinds of big ones every few years, but the Supreme Court is all-in on education these days. You’ve probably heard about this one, too, since it’s been all over the news (and all over Chalk & Gavel; we covered the OK Supreme Court's decision in this case in Episode 23). This one deals with a Catholic organization that was approved to operate a religious charter school by Oklahoma’s Charter School Review Board. Oklahoma's Attorney General, a republican named Gentner Drummond, believed that this violated the Establishment Clause and the state’s charter school law. This case went all the way to Oklahoma’s Supreme Court, which sided with Drummond, and that’s where most of us thought it would stay… but no, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to weigh in on the situation, and here we are. To help us break down those oral arguments, we’re honored to be joined by Dr. Martha McCarthy, a legend in education law who has been writing about religion and public schools since the 1980s! You don't want to miss this one!

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Keywords: Supreme Court, Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond, Oral Argument, Religion, Free Exercise Clause, Establishment Clause, Charter Schools, Martha McCarthy

#educationlaw #k12 #podcast #ChalkandGavel #SCOTUS #religionineducation #schoolchoice