Brown’s Promise Signs on to Amicus Brief Regarding St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School v. Drummond as Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments

Washington, D.C.— The United States Supreme Court tomorrow will hear oral arguments for the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School v. Drummond case. Brown’s Promise joined an amicus brief urging the United States Supreme Court to uphold last year’s Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling that protects the separation of church and state. Specifically, the brief calls on SCOTUS to remand or dismiss St. Isidore Catholic Virtual School v. Drummond. Five other nonprofit organizations representing families, students, educators, and public charter schools have joined the brief.

For decades, the State of Oklahoma's charter school law has upheld one of the country’s central tenets: nondenominational public institutions. America’s public schools exist to serve all students, regardless of income, race, or, in this case, religious affiliation. 

The Oklahoma Supreme Court's decision upheld decades of legal precedent affirming nonsectarian public school systems that are open to all. The Supreme Court’s decision to hear this case unnecessarily addresses an issue with longstanding constitutional and legal precedent. 

The brief, signed by the National Parents Union, Center for Learner Equity, Diverse Charter Schools Coalition, National Charter Collaborative, and Educators 4 Excellence, argues that America’s public schools have long been governed by a two-part framework:

First, public schools attended together as universally as possible by children of all religions are essential to the survival of republican government in a nation ever at risk of decomposition from its prized but volatile mixture of liberty, self-government, and religious diversity. 

Second, reserving public funds for public schools is an essential incentive and schools’ nondenominational character is an essential condition for attracting most students and preparing them for the republican citizenship the nation’s continuity requires. 

The syllogism has worked. For 125 years or more, ~90% of the nation’s children have attended public schools. Overturning the decision below would shatter that tradition, offend the Guarantee Clause, and put the nation in the peril the Founders most feared. 

“Freedom from religious influence in public institutions is a principle that dates back to the founding of this country. The Supreme Court’s Decision to take this case needlessly sets a dangerous precedent by jeopardizing well-established state and federal laws. Throughout our history, federal courts have increasingly ensured that all children in our diverse nation, regardless of personal background, are welcome in public schools, starting with a separation of church and state," said Brown’s Promise Chief Legal Counsel GeDá Jones Herbert. 

Should the Supreme Court reverse the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s ruling and force them to fund St. Isidore, it would fundamentally alter the state's public school system in a way the United States Supreme Court in Carson v. Makin ruled it could not do.

“If private religious schools were to be granted access to public charter status and funding, it would have a dire impact on the nation's long-standing tradition of nonreligious public education,” said Brown’s Promise Co-founder and Executive Director, Ary Amerikaner. “This is a slippery slope toward eroding the first amendment prohibition of government establishment of religion.”

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Hosted at Southern Education Foundation, Brown’s Promise is fighting to advance educational equity through integration. Brown’s Promise collaborates with partners to use research, litigation, and advocacy to create schools where children from all backgrounds learn together in excellent, well-resourced, diverse environments led by diverse educators. To learn more about Brown’s Promise, visit www.brownspromise.org/about