A 4–4 tie at the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday left in place an Oklahoma ruling that bars state funding for St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, a proposed K-12 charter program intended to offer online religious instruction, as per Al Jazeera.
Because Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself, the Court’s eight remaining members were evenly divided, producing no majority opinion and no new precedent. The one-sentence order simply affirmed last year’s decision by the Oklahoma Supreme Court, which had held that a publicly funded religious charter school would violate constitutional limits on state involvement in religion.
St. Isidore would have been the first taxpayer-supported charter school in the United States to operate with an explicitly faith-based curriculum. Oklahoma’s Statewide Virtual Charter School Board approved the project by a 3-2 vote in 2023, triggering lawsuits from opponents who argued that public funds cannot be used for sectarian education. Supporters countered that excluding religious operators from charter programs amounts to discrimination.
Barrett did not state her reasons for stepping aside, but she has longstanding personal ties to an attorney who advises the school. Her absence reduced the bench to an even number, creating the possibility—and ultimate result—of a deadlock.
With the Supreme Court’s tie, the Oklahoma decision remains controlling within the state. Charter schools there are classified as public schools, and the state high court ruled that any school receiving public money must remain secular.
