BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A closely watched U.S. Supreme Court deadlock last week preserved the public status of charter schools – at least for now – with Alabama advocates warning that a different outcome could have jeopardized years of progress in the state’s growing charter sector.
The outcome keeps in place an Oklahoma court decision that invalidated a vote by a state charter school board to approve the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, which would have been the nation’s first religious charter school. St. Isidore, a K-12 online school, had planned to start classes for its first 200 enrollees last fall, with part of its mission to evangelize its students in the Catholic faith.
“Our concern about the case was that it might have the unintended consequence of effectively turning public charter schools into private entities,” New Schools for Alabama President Tyler Barnett told Alabama Daily News.
“Charters are public schools, and they rely almost entirely on state and federal public education funding for survival,” he added.
Emily Schultz, executive director of Alabama Families for Great Schools, said the court’s action reinforces their stance that charter schools are public institutions.
“The Supreme Court’s decision in the St. Isidore case affirms our commitment to public charter schools as public schools,” she said.
Alabama’s public charter schools serve 8,000 families across the state, she said. Currently, there are 14 public charter schools operating in Alabama, with a few having multiple campuses divided by grade levels.
For now, Barnett said his organization will continue with its mission to help launch new public charter schools in Alabama.
“If the court had ruled differently, it would have put all of the progress that’s been made in the Alabama charter school sector at risk,” Barnett said.
The Catholic Church in Oklahoma had wanted taxpayers to fund the online charter school “faithful to the teachings of Jesus Christ.” Opponents warned that allowing it would blur the separation between church and state, sap money from public schools and possibly upend the rules governing charter schools in almost every state.
Charter schools are free and open to all, receive state funding, abide by antidiscrimination laws and submit to oversight of curriculum and testing. But they also are run by independent boards that are not part of local public school systems.
The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, which argued that charter schools are and must remain public schools, was one of nearly 60 organizations and individuals submitting amicus briefs in the case.
The case came to the court amid efforts, mainly in conservative-led states like Alabama, to insert religion into public schools.
Alabama lawmakers considered multiple religious bills in the just-ended legislative session, including a bill that would require the Ten Commandments be posted in K-12 schools and colleges and a mandate that all K-12 schools allow students to leave campus during the school day for religious instruction.
Those bills did not pass, but sponsors have promised to bring them back next year, an election year for all Alabama lawmakers those seeking statewide offices.
Only eight of the nine justices took part in the case. Justice Amy Coney Barrett didn’t explain her absence, but she is good friends and used to teach with Notre Dame law professor Nicole Garnett, who has been an adviser to the school.
The court, following its custom, did not provide a breakdown of the votes. But during arguments last month, four conservative justices seemed likely to side with the school, while the three liberals seemed just as firmly on the other side.
That left Chief Justice John Roberts appearing to hold the key vote, and suggests he went with the liberals to make the outcome 4-4.
The issue could return to the high court in the future, with the prospect that all nine justices could participate.
Mark Sherman of the Associated Press contributed reporting.