Supreme Court majority seems open to religious public charter schools

Liberal justices were opposed to government sponsorship of religious schools, but there was support amaong conservatives.

Updated today at 3:25 p.m. EDT

religious group protesting and celebrating for the campaign
The Oklahoma student group Free to Learn demonstrates at the Supreme Court ahead of oral arguments in a religious charter school case in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. (Shedrick Pelt/For The Washington Post)

Justin Jouvenal

A divided Supreme Court on Wednesday appeared open to allowing the creation of the nation’s first public religious charter school in Oklahoma, a blockbuster move that could reshape American education and redraw the boundary between church and state.

A ruling for St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School would for the first time allow direct and complete taxpayer funding to establish a faith-based school, sanctioning government sponsorship of a curriculum that calls for students to adhere to Catholic beliefs and the church’s religious mission.

The change could have vast — and unpredictable — implications for parochial, charter and traditional public schools, and would probably spark efforts to create similar schools in other states. It would also supercharge a push by the conservative majority on the Supreme Court to give religion new prominence in public life.

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