Moms, school choice advocates rally in support of Catholic charter school at Supreme Court
May 2, 2025
Dozens of school choice advocates demonstrated outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday as the high court hears a case involving a Catholic charter school that the Oklahoma Supreme Court deemed unlawful to receive tax dollars.
The Christian Post reports that the Free to Learn rally outside the Supreme Court, took place as oral arguments were taking place in the case of Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond.
The case stems from a question over whether the state can contract with two Catholic Church regional bodies to operate the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School as a taxpayer-funded online charter school.
Kandice Jeske is a mother who was among those rallying outside the Supreme Court this week.
Jeske began searching for other schooling options for her son when she saw that he wasn’t receiving the attention he needed in the public school system.
She believes that parents should have the option of sending their children to a religious or secular school, especially if it will meet the child’s needs.
Jeske told the Christian Post, “”No one is forcing your child to go to a religious school. The parent is choosing. The parent knows their kids’ needs. The parent knows their family values. Nothing is forced.”
School choice advocates argue that parents should have more, not fewer, learning options for their children and they’d like to see the court rule in favor of St. Isidore.
Critics say private funding shouldn’t be used to support religious schools because Americans shouldn’t be forced to fund the teaching of religious beliefs that they do not hold.
During Wednesday’s oral arguments, some of the Supreme Court’s conservative justices appeared sympathetic to the stance that the Catholic Church is free to operate a charter school just like any other private group in Oklahoma.
Liberal justices on the court contend that any government backing of a faith-based charter school would be a violation of the First Amendment which prohibits government from establishing a religion.
Photo: top, Credit: Samanthan Kamman/The Christian Post