Attorney General Gentner Drummond issued a binding legal opinion on Thursday that prohibits the Statewide Charter School Board from holding a third vote on the fate of a twice-failed application for state sanctioning for Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School.
Board Chair Brian Shellem, a gubernatorial appointee who has been unabashed in his vocal support for state sponsorship of openly religious schools, has scheduled a special meeting for noon Friday for the board to consider for a second time a revised charter school application from former U.S. Rep. Peter Deutsch, of Florida, to open the first state-funded religious charter school in the country.
Just last week, the revised Jewish charter school application failed to earn the five votes needed for passage by the nine-seat governing board overseeing charter schools, with one member absent at the time and one seat currently vacant.
Three members voted no: Vice Chair Bill Pearson, appointed by the leader of the state senate; Marshall Baker, a gubernatorial appointee; and Courtney Anderson, the official designee of State Superintendent Lindel Fields.
In response to an official request from Rep. Ronny Johns, R-Ada, and State Rep. Ellen Pogemiller, D-Oklahoma City, the new AG’s opinion says state law “establishes a closed, two-step application process: the Board accepts or rejects an application, then accepts or rejects one timely revised application. It authorizes no third vote, rehearing, reconsideration, or rescission.”
“The Board accordingly lacks statutory authority to reconsider, rescind, or hold a further vote on the Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation’s revised application,” reads the opinion. “Its authority over that application ended with its decision on the revised application, and the October 12, 2026, proceeding, whatever its procedural footing, left the application rejected when the motion to approve failed to secure the five votes required for final action.”
Asked for his reaction to the AG opinion, Shellem said he had not yet had a chance to read it and would consult the board’s attorneys.
“Our issue is we want to be in compliance with the law, and obviously, we’ve had varying AG opinions in the past, so we’ll see how it all goes. I’m not too stressed about it.”
The Statewide Charter School Board is the same governing board that was blocked last year by a 4-4 deadlock in the U.S. Supreme Court in its quest to facilitate the establishment of an openly religious Catholic charter school.
In February, the Statewide Charter School Board voted 8–0 to deny the initial application for state sponsorship and taxpayer funding for the proposed Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School, which would teach Judaism alongside traditional, secular school subjects, citing legal precedent that prohibits Oklahoma taxpayer funds from opening or supporting sectarian, religious charter schools.
In March, Drummond sued the board for failing to properly detail in their rejection notice any of the 10 other non-religious inadequacies cited by board members and state agency staff employed by the Statewide Charter School Board.
Those included questions of community support, as the Jewish Federations in Oklahoma City and Tulsa oppose the school, and of financial and operational viability, as Deutsch has discussed a first-year enrollment goal of as few as 10 students — a large discrepancy from the 400-student goal in the school’s application.
Oklahoma statute explicitly defines charter schools as public schools, and state statute and federal regulation specifically prohibit them from affiliation with a nonpublic sectarian school or religious institution.
In late September, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma granted Ben Gamla’s request for a preliminary injunction against enforcement of state law prohibiting religious affiliation by charter schools.
After the Statewide Charter School Board’s second sponsorship vote failed on Oct. 12, Drummond immediately dropped his court action, signaling the end of the road for the current Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School application.
In the discussion section of his new, binding opinion, Drummond writes that after the Oklahoma State Legislature rejects a revised charter school application, an applicant’s only step is binding arbitration.
“Our issue is we want to be in compliance with the law, and obviously, we’ve had varying AG opinions in the past, so we’ll see how it all goes. I’m not too stressed about it.”
Brian Shellem, chair, Statewide Charter School Board
This week, Deutsch threatened legal action, including contempt of court, if the board doesn’t obey the federal judge’s September ruling in favor of the school.
Shellem, a supporter of the Ben Gamla charter school application and the board’s legal representation by First Liberty Institute and A.J. Ferate – both advocates for access to state funding for religious schools – said in February that he hoped the issue would return to the U.S. Supreme Court because the “lack of judicial consensus demands the need for legal clarity and precedent.”
Whether Oklahoma should sanction and provide taxpayer funding for a religious charter school was challenged in an earlier test case on the separation of church and state, involving a Catholic Church proposal for the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that proposal for a religious charter school unconstitutional, halting its planned opening, and in 2025, a divided U.S. Supreme Court voted 4-4, upholding the state court decision.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself, presumably because of close personal ties to a Notre Dame law professor involved in the St. Isidore proposal, which would have no bearing on a legal challenge by the Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School applicant.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Andrea Eger covers a variety of topics for Oklahoma Watch. Contact her at aeger@oklahomawatch.org.
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