The Supreme Court Will Get Another Shot at Church-State Separation

At issue in Drummond were two important constitutional questions. First: Are private charter schools public actors if they are publicly approved and funded? And second: If they are public, does the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment prohibit a state from excluding religious schools from its charter school program?or does the establishment clause require it to exclude them?

In 2023, the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board approved St. Isidore as a virtual charter school. However, contrary to state law, the school board excluded clauses from its standard contract with charter schools requiring any charter school to be “non-sectarian in its programs, admissions policies, employment practices and all other operations.” This exception raised concerns that the school might reserve the right to discriminate in admission, hiring or discipline on religious grounds, potentially by banning or expelling LGBTQ+ students or staff or denying services to students with disabilities.

As Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, pointed out in an interview: “The Establishment Clause gives us the freedom to control our own bodies, the freedom to live as LGBTQ+ people, the freedom to read and learn, the freedom to access health care on an equal basis with others, the freedom to access jobs, shopping, and public accommodations, the freedom to access social services, and the freedom to receive a good education public. »