Oklahoma charter board again rejects proposed Jewish virtual school, citing state ban on sectarian charters

Second vote in two meetings keeps Ben Gamla proposal from advancing

The Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board voted March 9, 2026, to reject a resubmitted application to create a virtual Jewish charter school, marking the second consecutive denial for the proposal. The applicant, National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation, had returned to the board after an initial rejection on February 9, 2026.

Board members said the controlling issue remained the same: under Oklahoma law, charter schools are public schools and must be nonsectarian. The vote comes as Oklahoma continues to serve as a key testing ground in a national legal debate over whether publicly funded charter schools may be operated with an explicitly religious mission.

What the board said drove the outcome

At the February meeting, the board unanimously rejected the Ben Gamla application, citing application deficiencies that included missing discipline policies and inconsistencies involving enrollment projections and grade levels. The March 9 resubmission addressed some operational issues, but retained an explicitly religious component, which board leadership said made approval incompatible with Oklahoma Supreme Court precedent.

The board also took steps tied to anticipated litigation, including voting to retain outside legal counsel related to the Ben Gamla decision.

The legal backdrop: Oklahoma’s nonsectarian requirement and the St. Isidore rulings

The board’s position rests on an Oklahoma Supreme Court decision issued June 25, 2024, in litigation arising from approval of St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. In that case, the state high court concluded that Oklahoma charter schools are public schools and that a sectarian charter school would violate state constitutional limits and statutory requirements that public charter schools be nonsectarian.

That dispute later reached the U.S. Supreme Court. On May 22, 2025, the justices split 4-4, leaving the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling in place without setting a nationwide precedent. With the state ruling still controlling in Oklahoma, the Statewide Charter School Board has treated itself as bound to deny religious charter applications that seek to operate as public charter schools while maintaining a faith-based curriculum or mission.

What could happen next

Supporters of the Ben Gamla proposal have indicated that, after exhausting administrative options, the next step could be court action challenging Oklahoma’s application of the nonsectarian requirement to charter schools. Any new lawsuit would likely revisit the central question raised by the St. Isidore litigation: whether charter schools function as public schools for constitutional purposes, or whether they may be treated more like private operators participating in a public program.

• Feb. 9, 2026: The board unanimously rejected the initial Ben Gamla application.

• Mar. 9, 2026: The board rejected the resubmitted application, citing the same legal barrier.

• June 25, 2024 and May 22, 2025: Prior state and federal court outcomes left Oklahoma’s prohibition on sectarian charter schools in force.

In both meetings, board leadership framed the decision as a consequence of binding court precedent rather than an evaluation of religion as such.