In rare tie vote, Supreme Court upholds ruling blocking Oklahoma Catholic charter school

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday effectively ended a publicly funded Catholic charter school in Oklahoma, dividing 4-4.

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. But it leaves the issue unresolved nationally.

The Catholic Church in Oklahoma had sought to establish the online charter school “faithful to the teachings of Jesus Christ.”  St. Isidore, a K-12 online school, had planned to start classes for its first 200 enrollees last fall.

The one-sentence notice from the court provides an unsatisfying end to one of the term’s most closely watched cases.

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 issue could return to the high court in the future, with the prospect that all nine justices could participate.

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.

A key unresolved issue is whether the school is public or private. Charter schools are deemed public in Oklahoma and the other 45 states and the District of Columbia where they operate. North Dakota recently enacted legislation allowing for charter schools.

They are free and open to all, receive state funding, abide by antidiscrimination laws, and submit to oversight of curriculum and testing. But they are also run by independent boards that are not part of local public school systems.

Proponents of publicly funded religious charter schools were quick to point out that the decision was limited to Oklahoma.

“Oklahoma parents and children are better off with more educational choices, not fewer. While the Supreme Court’s order is disappointing for educational freedom, the 4-4 decision does not set precedent, allowing the court to revisit this issue in the future," said Jim Campbell, who argued the case at the high court on behalf of Oklahoma's charter school board. Campbell is the chief legal counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal organization that often appears at the court in cases on high-profile social issues.