CV NEWS FEED // The state of Oklahoma has canceled its contract with St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, over a month after the state Supreme Court ruled that the school was “unconstitutional.”
According to the Oklahoman, members of the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board voted on Aug. 12 unanimously in favor of cancellation, “provided [that the contract] will be reinstated if either the state court or the U.S. Supreme Court ‘reverses, vacates or otherwise nullifies’ the state court’s current order.”
Religious liberty legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented the Board in the lawsuit, announced in late July that it will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case, as CatholicVote previously reported.
Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who had brought the lawsuit against the Board in October 2023, said in an Aug. 12 statement after the contract was canceled, “While it is appalling that the Board took so long to recognize the authority of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, I am pleased that board members finally fulfilled their duty.”
Until this week, the Board had refrained from canceling the contract, as it was waiting on a decision for its request for a stay to keep the contract valid, CatholicVote previously reported. The Oklahoma Supreme Court denied the stay on Aug. 5.
The Oklahoman reported that Board Chair Brian Shellem said, “Our Board is always going to be in compliance with the court order.”
“There were those that wanted to rush the process, but there was a process,” Shellem continued. “This board will always respect the process. So that’s what we did. You heard the motion – the contract will be in full force if the United States Supreme Court decides to overturn.”
According to FOX 23, board members indicated that the application process to set up the school “could pick up where it left off” if the U.S. Supreme Court were to rule in favor of the school.
Drummond said in his Aug. 12 statement that the taxpayer-funded religious character school “represents a serious threat to the religious liberty of all four million Oklahomans.”
FOX 23 also reported that during arguments at the state Supreme Court, Drummond argued that Catholic families can use a voucher to pay for private schooling.
The Oklahoman reported that after the vote to cancel the contract, State Superintendent Ryan Walters issued a statement criticizing the state Supreme Court’s ruling as “dismal,” adding that the state Supreme Court is not representative of “conservative Oklahoma values.”
“They have chosen the path of liberal extremism and Marxism by depriving parents of a choice,” Walters said.
