Orthodox Union Advocacy Center Urges Supreme Court to Uphold Religious Charter Schools in the Face of Discriminatory State Actions

Washington, D.C. —The Orthodox Union Advocacy Center (OUA) —the public policy arm of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America — has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School v. Drummond, arguing that excluding religious charter schools from state programs because of their faith-based identity is a violation of the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause. Read the brief here.

The case has significant implications for thousands of religious schools in America — including Jewish day schools — whose students receive millions of dollars in basic services, including busing, special education for students with disabilities, enhanced security, and supplementary educational opportunities.

“The Supreme Court has already ruled multiple times that state and local governments cannot engage in legislative acrobatics to exclude religious schools from public funding opportunities that are available to others,” said Nathan Diament, Executive Director of OU Advocacy. “We hope the Court will use this latest case to drop the hammer and declare without question that religious discrimination is unconstitutional.” 

In the case of St. Isidore v. Drummond, the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board revoked a Catholic school’s charter contract because of the school’s religious nature.

A ruling in favor of St. Isidore could have far-reaching benefits for Jewish day schools. It would open the door for Jewish charter schools and give many more families access to an affordable Jewish education. It will also stop local governments from concocting new ways to deny religious schools access to the same pot of public funding as non-sectarian schools. The case is scheduled to be argued before the Supreme Court on April 30. For more information about the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center and its initiatives, visit https://advocacy.ou.org/.