Just over a year ago, the U.S. Supreme Court rendered an unusual judgment: a tied vote.

Without stating why, Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself from Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond, a case about whether it would have been constitutional to open a Catholic charter school. The remaining justices deadlocked 4-4, leaving in place lower court rulings that blocked the school. Oklahoma courts agreed that allowing state funding to a religious school would have violated both Oklahoma law and the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Now, a new contender is attempting to become America’s first religious charter school. On Sept. 24, 2026, a federal court judge allowed a suit to proceed from Ben Gamla, a Jewish organization whose application to participate in Oklahoma’s charter school program was denied earlier this year.

This yearslong controversy goes to the heart of questions about how much public aid is permissible to faith-based institutions under the First Amendment’s establishment clause, which forbids the government from making laws “respecting an establishment of religion.” More broadly, it reflects tensions over religion’s place in public life – while highlighting the Supreme Court’s increasingly friendly attitude toward faith-based schools.

Ben Gamla operates a network of secular charter schools in Florida that teach in Hebrew and English. Its application in Oklahoma proposes a school that would provide both secular and religious education.

The charter school movement began in earnest in the United States in 1991, starting in Minnesota. Forty-six states and the District of Columbia now permit them to operate.

Charter schools differ significantly from other........

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