WASHINGTON: The conservative US Supreme Court will weigh a case on Wednesday challenging the ban on using public money to fund religious charter schools.
Nearly all 50 states already allow charter schools, which are privately managed but publicly funded.
But the Catholic Church in Oklahoma is vying to open the nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school, Saint Isidore of Seville.
Named in homage to the patron saint of the Internet, a 7th century Spanish bishop, plaintiffs say the school would promote “parental choice, individual liberty, educational diversity, and student achievement.”
“Excluding religious groups from Oklahoma’s charter school program denies these opportunities and causes real harm,” plaintiffs add.
If the Supreme Court sides with the Catholic Church, taxpayer funding for religious education could see a huge uptick.
The separation between church and state is a bedrock principle of the US government, rooted in the First Amendment of the Constitution. The separation has been upheld in many Supreme Court decisions.
In the case before the court, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that the creation of the school violates both US and state constitutions.
“A ruling for petitioners would eliminate the buffer this Court has long enforced between religious instruction and public schools, including in areas where charter schools are the only or default public school option,” the Oklahoma Attorney General has argued.
Six of nine judges on the conservative-majority Supreme Court have demonstrated support for extending religion into public spaces, particularly schools.
However, Justice Amy Coney Barrett has recused herself from this case, possibly because of connections to jurists advocating for the creation of contracted religious schools.
In 2022, the Supreme Court compelled the northeastern state of Maine to include religious schools in a system of public subsidies, saying their exclusion amounted to discrimination against religion.
The conservative majority also, in the same year, invalidated the dismissal of an American football coach in the Seattle area who prayed on the field.
The plaintiffs are represented by religious legal advocates Alliance Defending Freedom, who are expected to argue that the prohibition on funding schools will inhibit the First Amendment right to free worship.
Nationally, there were more than 3.7 million students enrolled in 8,150 charter schools during the 2022-2023 school year, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.

PHNOM PENH: Cambodia’s top court on Wednesday denied bail to five environmentalists jailed for their activism, a family member said, in a case widely condemned by the UN and human rights campaigners.
The activists from Mother Nature, one of Cambodia’s few environmental advocacy groups, denied charges of plotting against the state, which they said were politically motivated.
The five activists were among 10 environmentalists sentenced to between six and eight years in jail last year.
Path Raksmey, 34, wife of activist Thun Ratha, said that she was disappointed with Wednesday’s ruling by the Supreme Court.
“I am very regretful that the court does not allow bail for them. They are the ones who protect the environment but they are locked in jail while people who have destroyed natural resources live happily,” said Path Raksmey.
“It is unjust for the five,” she said, adding that her husband remains “strong.”
The five activists have been jailed in different prisons after their sentencing in July, but have launched appeals.
The United Nations Human Rights Office said last year it was “gravely concerned by the conviction and harsh sentencing.”
The tussle over protecting or exploiting Cambodia’s natural resources has long been a contentious issue in the Southeast Asian nation, with environmentalists threatened, arrested and even killed in the past decade.
Cambodian journalist Chhoeung Chheung died in December after he was shot while investigating illegal logging in the country’s northwest.
Unchecked illicit logging has contributed to a sharp drop in Cambodia’s forest cover over the years, according to activists.
From 2002 to 2023, a third of Cambodia’s humid primary forests – some of the world’s most biodiverse and a key carbon sink – were lost, according to monitoring site Global Forest Watch.
Cambodia’s government has approved plans for a cement factory deep inside a protected wildlife sanctuary, according to an order seen by AFP on Tuesday.