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Commentary By Andy Smarick

Supreme Court Appears Poised to Rule in Favor of Faith-Based Charter Schools

Governance, Education Supreme Court, Pre K-12

Is it anti-religious discrimination to allow any nonprofit except a faith-based group to operate a school?

My big question, as the Supreme Court kicked off Wednesday’s oral argument in Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond, the high-profile “religious charter schools” case, was where exactly the justices would draw the battle line. I saw three possibilities. 

State charter school laws have been around for more than 30 years. They enable nonprofits to operate public schools free of many rules that apply to the traditional government-run public schools. That list can include policies related to calendars and schedules, teacher pay and certification, curriculum, teaching methods, and more. From the very beginning, all charters have been secular. That’s been required by state laws. But a Catholic-affiliated applicant in Oklahoma put those provisions to the test, essentially arguing that it is anti-religious discrimination for a state government to allow any nonprofit other than faith-based groups to operate a charter consistent with its beliefs.

Continue reading the entire piece here at The Dispatch

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Andy Smarick is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Follow him on Twitter here.

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