The board, which also includes State Superintendent Ryan Walters, voted 7-2, with members Becky Gooch voting against and Jared Buswell voting to abstain. Gooch said she thought the vote was outside of the legal purview of the board, and Buswell said while he was philosophically in alignment with the rest of the board, he wasn’t “clear on seeing this particular motion on the agenda.”
The agenda item said, “discussion and possible action regarding pending litigation related to St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School and the Supreme Court’s June 25, 2024 ruling, including without limitation substitution of the Board for the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board in such litigation and appeal of the Supreme Court’s ruling to the United States Supreme Court.”
Earlier in the meeting, the board voted to substitute itself in for the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board in the lawsuit. The virtual school board dissolved at the end of June, per recent legislation, and the Statewide Charter School Board took over its duties.
Going against the directive of Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, the board also voted to table an agenda item to act on rescinding St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual Charter School’s contract until after the case concludes.
In June, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled St. Isidore’s contract was unconstitutional, siding with Drummond, who brought the case. It ordered the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board to rescind St. Isidore’s contract, but the board failed to do that when one of the three present board members, Brian Shellem, abstained.
Shellem then became the chair of the Statewide Charter School Board. In Tuesday’s discussion over whether to rescind the contract, he acknowledged Drummond has told the board to do so but said the board may not be able to retain its legal standing in the potential Supreme Court case if it were to rescind.
“The AG, I understand his position. He’s made it perfectly clear that he thinks this board should rescind the contract,” Shellem said. “Well, I want to make sure everyone understands, there’s such thing called ‘standing,’ and this is the way it’s been explained to me: that if we were to rescind the contract — and it goes to the Supreme Court, which we all voted to participate in — there would be an elimination of that standing. And why would there need to be a hearing of this case if there is no contract in existence?”
The board voted 8-1 to table the agenda item to potentially rescind the contract, with Gooch again casting the lone vote against.
Tensions flared during the meeting when Deputy Attorney General Thomas Schneider attempted to interject during several points in the St. Isidore discussion. Drummond told the board earlier this month his office would serve as its legal counsel and told board Executive Director Rebecca Wilkinson to schedule a meeting before the end of July to follow the State Supreme Court’s order to rescind St. Isidore’s contract.
Shellem and member Ben Lepak pushed back against the appropriateness of the attorney general’s office attempting to advise the board in a lawsuit in which the attorney general is in direct opposition to the board.
“Frankly, as an attorney, I find it baffling that the Office of the Attorney General has taken the position that they want to put themselves in between us and legal counsel while they litigate against us,” Lepak said.
In a statement released Tuesday afternoon, Drummond referenced previous arguments he’s made saying St. Isidore’s existence would open the doors to other religions’ schools funded by taxpayers.
“Every Oklahoman should be outraged by the board’s blatant hostility toward religious liberty. Rather than acting to protect religious liberty, they are recklessly committed to using our tax dollars to fund radical religious teachings like Sharia law,” Drummond wrote. “I will continue to protect the religious liberty of all four million Oklahomans by upholding their constitutional rights.”
