Jewish group files lawsuit against Oklahoma AG, charter school board
A Florida-based Jewish organization is suing the Oklahoma attorney general and the state’s charter school board over allegations of religious discrimination and violating the Constitution, after the board denied its request to establish a school.
In a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday, March 24, the National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation said Attorney General Gentner Drummond and the Oklahoma State Charter School Board rejected its charter school application “on the sole basis that Ben Gamla is proposing a charter school that is religious.”
The Ben Gamla Foundation cited Oklahoma’s charter school law, which prohibits authorization of charter schools “affiliated with a nonpublic sectarian school or religious institution” under state law. The foundation claims that discrimination based on religion violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and is seeking an injunction against the state policy in order to allow the school to open.
Related: Jewish charter school project rejected, likely to restart legal battle
“So this is a simple case: Can Oklahoma arbitrarily exclude religious people from the charter school program? The Constitution says no,” the foundation argued in federal court in Oklahoma City.
Neither Drummond’s office nor the state charter school board responded to requests for comment before publication Tuesday. The Oklahoman has contacted First Liberty Institute, previously suggested by charter school board members as the intended legal counsel in court, and is awaiting a response.
In a federal lawsuit filed March 24, the National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation said Attorney General Gentner Drummond and the Oklahoma State Charter School Board rejected its charter school application “on the sole basis that Ben Gamla is proposing a charter school that is religious.”
A longer legal battle over religious charter schools in Oklahoma
The lawsuit is the latest development in legal tensions between the Jewish charter school foundation and Oklahoma state authorities. State board members previously said their hands were tied and forced to obey a 2024 Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling rejecting the concept of a state-funded religious school. Most board members, however, said they disagreed with the state Supreme Court’s decision and planned to challenge it in court.
The Ben Gamla case also touches on questions of separation between church and state that have fueled the debate over Catholic charter schools. The same state board approved a new charter school application from St. Isidore, a Catholic church, in 2023, but Drummond asked the Oklahoma Supreme Court to intervene.
When a 6-9 majority in the state Supreme Court rejected the board’s approval, the Ben Gamla Foundation appealed. The U.S. Supreme Court took up the case but deadlocked 4-4, allowing the state Supreme Court’s decision to stand.
Drummond opposed approving the Catholic charter school because of the precedent he said it would set. He claimed that taxpayer money could be used to support “extreme sects of the Muslim faith…teaching sharia” and “radical Islamic schools,” the attorney general said in press releases.
“The law does not allow the government to choose between religions. We would be forced to fund them all,” Drummond said in a 2025 statement. “Fortunately, the United States Supreme Court has upheld my position, and radical Islamic schools will soon no longer be funded by taxpayers.”
Ben Gamla’s lawyers cited Drummond’s own assertion in the federal lawsuit, saying he had “clearly expressed hostility toward minority religions, particularly Muslims,” they argued.
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Drummond also asked the court earlier in March that the state’s charter school board be ordered to disclose additional reasons for its rejection of Ben Gamla’s application, arguing that it contained “multiple serious defects” that were never corrected.
“But instead of doing its job and listing all the valid reasons for rejection, the Commission deliberately suppressed these findings in order to carve a cleaner path to the Federal Court,” Drummond said March 11. “I will not allow this Commission to rig the record at taxpayers’ expense.”
The founders of the Ben Gamla Foundation said they aimed to create a charter school in Oklahoma where students could receive “a rigorous academic education as well as a deep cultural and ethical foundation” steeped in Jewish faith and traditions.
“Unfortunately, Jewish education is not widely available in many parts of the United States,” lawyers for the Ben Gamla Foundation say. “Where this is available, it can often be prohibitively expensive and out of reach for many Jewish families.”
But local Jewish organizations opposed Ben Gamla’s attempts to establish a school in Oklahoma. Several leaders of synagogues and service centers said the Florida-based organization did not consult the local community first.
“If such consultation had taken place, the applicant would have been informed that Oklahoma is already home to numerous opportunities for Jewish education,” a joint statement said.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Jewish group accuses OK AG, charter school board, of discrimination
