Supreme Court to weigh whether states can allow religious public schools

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

58% : "Church-state separation is a cornerstone of our democracy," the group said in a statement about the case.
55% : If the court allows states to directly fund religious charter schools, many existing private religious schools would be able to seek to convert to charter schools and benefit from full government funding, further eroding the line between government and religion.
54% : And in 2023, the court said that a Maine voucher program that supplied state funding for rural students to attend private high schools had to be open to religious schools.
51% : But in recent years, religious activists have succeeded in bringing cases that have helped tear down what had been a clear delineation between public funding and religious education.
48% : "Charter schools are publicly funded but privately operated and must abide by many of the rules that govern traditional public schools.
44% : Allowing the school to go ahead, the Oklahoma justices wrote, "would create a slippery slope" and lead to what the framers warned against -- "the destruction of Oklahomans' freedom to practice religion without fear of governmental intervention.
43% : In 2023, the high court ruled the Constitution's free speech provisions shield some businesses from being required to provide services to same-sex couples, after a web designer argued she should not have to do such work because of her religious beliefs.
42% : Oklahoma law clearly states that charter schools may not be sectarian or affiliated with a religious institution, and the state constitution bars spending public money, directly or indirectly, for any religious purpose, including teaching.
38% : The court has already allowed government funding of vouchers for religious private schools.
21% : But charter schools are public schools, and last year the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that the proposed religious charter school violated both the state and U.S. constitutions.

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