Movement coming on pair of lawsuits involving Catholic virtual charter school St. Isidore

Two lawsuits seeking to stop the opening of what would be the nation's first public religious charter school figure to see movement in the coming weeks, one because of new court filings and the other because of a significant hearing scheduled for Tuesday.

The lawsuits concern St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, which says on its website it’s already accredited by the Oklahoma State Department of Education. The school’s initial application period, which began March 1, runs through Wednesday. St. Isidore’s faculty are to report on Aug. 1, with the first day of school set for Aug. 12, according to court documents.

One case is being heard in the Oklahoma Supreme Court, which has assumed original jurisdiction. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond sued the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board on Oct. 20 after the board, by a 3-2 vote, approved the creation of the St. Isidore school. Drummond has warned that approval of the Catholic charter school might eventually force Oklahoma to fund other religious schools, including possibly those teaching Sharia law.

One of the three votes approving the school was cast by Nellie Tayloe Sanders, then a member of the virtual-school board and now Oklahoma’s education secretary.

On Tuesday, each side in that case will be given 30 minutes to speak during an en banc hearing before the full state Supreme Court. There’s no indication on when the court might rule on the lawsuit.

Three times, state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters – who supports the idea of a publicly funded religious charter school – has tried to insert himself, the Oklahoma State Department and the Oklahoma State Board of Education into the case, and the court has rejected each request.

Ruling in Drummond's lawsuit likely will affect other case involving St. Isidore

The result of any decision in Drummond’s lawsuit could affect the other lawsuit involving St. Isidore, filed in Oklahoma County District Court in July by the Oklahoma Parent Legislative Action Committee (OPLAC), a non-partisan public school advocacy group. Nine other parents, faith leaders and public education advocates joined in filing the lawsuit.

They contend a Catholic charter school would contradict state law and asked a district judge to block St. Isidore from opening and receiving state funds. They are represented by local attorneys and national groups — the American Civil Liberties Union, the Freedom From Religion Foundation and Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

More: Oklahoma AG sues state board over virtual Catholic charter school

The case already has seen legal tumult. The original judge assigned to the case, Oklahoma County District Judge Brent Dishman, declined to recuse himself from the case due to a conflict of interest. The plaintiffs appealed and in January, District Judge Amy Palumbo, the county’s chief district judge that month, ruled Dishman should be removed.

Dishman’s sister-in-law is the co-founder of the OPLAC. Dishman also serves on the board of College of the Ozarks, a private religious school in Point Lookout, Missouri, that previously hired several of the defense attorneys in a separate case with similar issues.

What do recent filings in Oklahoma County case say?

After Palumbo’s ruling, District Judge Richard Ogden now is presiding over the case. Last week, he received dueling filings from each side, with three requests for dismissal and another to force St. Isidore to agree to provide representatives to be deposed by attorneys for the plaintiffs.

Attorneys for the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board said the lawsuit should be dismissed, providing four arguments as to why. Primarily, they said the lawsuit lacked subject-matter jurisdiction, because they believe the plaintiffs lack standing to file the case and the board is immune from lawsuits. They said the case was filed by “the wrong plaintiffs with the wrong claims at the wrong time.”

They also said the lawsuit fails to state a claim, the Oklahoma Constitution doesn’t prohibit religious virtual charter schools and the virtual-school board couldn’t enforce a non-sectarian provision of the Oklahoma Charter Schools Act.

Likewise, attorneys for St. Isidore also asked Ogden to dismiss the lawsuit, using similar arguments, as did attorneys for Walters, the state education department and the state Board of Education. Ogden has set no timeline for when he might rule on those requests.

Ogden seemed to treat more urgently a filing by OPLAC, which asked for the judge to order St. Isidore to allow OPLAC attorneys to begin depositions of St. Isidore personnel. He’s set a May 1 hearing on that request.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs claimed in the filing that St. Isidore has declined to make anyone available for a deposition, which the lawsuit said is required 30 days after respondents received the lawsuit. The lawsuit said St. Isidore “has taken the position that it will not produce its officers or staff for any depositions until after a decision is issued” on its motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

OPLAC attorneys said their lawsuit, unlike Drummond’s, targets not only the religious nature of St. Isidore but also St. Isidore’s willingness to comply with “all applicable laws,” concerns about whether the school would discriminate “in admissions, discipline and employment based on religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, and other legally prohibited grounds” and concerns that St. Isidore “has not committed to fully serving students with disabilities.”

OPLAC attorneys said they plan to file for a temporary injunction prohibiting St. Isidore from receiving state funds “unless the Attorney General’s lawsuit soon results” in a ruling toward that end. They said they would file for the injunction if a ruling in Drummond’s case isn’t issued by the end of April.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma religious charter school court cases soon will see movement