New board takes no action on court order to rescind contract with Catholic charter school

In its first meeting, the Statewide Charter School Board voted Monday to delay a decision on how, and when, to follow an order from the Oklahoma Supreme Court to rescind a contract with St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School.

The board cited a pair of legal documents in the case ― one filed Friday, the other Monday — in making its decision not to decide. St. Isidore is seeking to become the nation’s first Catholic virtual charter school. The case is being eyed closely due to its religious overtones and potential for a precedent-setting ruling.

Attorneys for St. Isidore asked the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Friday to issue a stay of its order that the school's contract must be rescinded, while acknowledging that the school would not be allowed to open for the 2024-25 academic year.

On Monday, the state court gave Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who sued to stop the state from contracting with the school, until July 22 to respond to St. Isidore’s motion.

Statewide Charter School Board chair says they want to let legal process play out

Brian Shellem, chosen by his peers Monday to be chair of the Statewide Charter School Board, said the board intends to follow the order, but wants to let the legal process play out.

“We did receive advice from our counsel,” Shellem said after an executive session that lasted about 90 minutes. “We understand that the order of the Supreme Court, our board will always stay in compliance with those orders. One thing the Supreme Court did not say was the timeframe of that, when that needs to take place, in rescinding that contract. … St. Isidore did seek a motion to a stay. We’ll see if the Supreme Court decides on (that).”

More: St. Isidore asks state Supreme Court to stay an order to cancel its contract

Shellem did acknowledge the contract between the board and St. Isidore does technically remain in place “on paper,” although St. Isidore already has said it will not open for the 2024-25 school year, as it had originally planned to do.

Shellem also said the board has not made a decision on whether it should appeal the state Supreme Court ruling. St. Isidore already has said it intends to ask for a review of the state court’s ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court.

By a 3-2 vote last October, the current board’s predecessor, the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board, approved the creation of St. Isidore and Drummond quickly sued, saying such an agreement was unconstitutional. The state court heard oral arguments in the case on April 2.

The state Supreme Court issued its ruling June 25, ordering the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board to rescind its contract with St. Isidore. But three days later, at the final meeting of that board before its dissolution, it failed to take action on the court order. The old board’s legal responsibilities have fallen to the new board, which began operating July 1.

The new board chose Shellem, the lone holdover from the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board, as its chair. Jared Buswell, a self-described “education activist” who unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the Tulsa Public Schools board earlier this year, was chosen as the vice chair.

The board picked up its ninth member on Friday when House Speaker Charles McCall nominated Ben Lepak of Edmond. Lepak is the executive director of the State Chamber Research Foundation.

State schools Superintendent Ryan Walters, who chose to serve on the board instead of designating a nominee, did not attend the meeting. Walters did, however, send a proxy to vote for him — John Tautfest, who says on his LinkedIn page that he’s the new director of school choice for the Oklahoma State Department of Education, which is headed by Walters. The superintendent announced the establishment of an “Office of School Choice” within his agency in March, but has yet to make public details of how the office works.

Other board members who joined Walters in skipping the board's first meeting included Lepak and Angie Thomas. Thomas is one of three appointees to the board made by Gov. Kevin Stitt.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: New board takes no action on Oklahoma religious charter school contract