State Supreme Court denies Walters' 2nd bid to intervene in Catholic charter school suit

For a second time, the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Monday denied an attempt by State schools Superintendent Ryan Walters to intervene in a lawsuit that seeks to stop the creation of what would be the nation's first public religious charter school.

In a 6-2 vote, the court said it would deny Walters’ motion for reconsideration of the court’s original order, issued Nov. 14, that blocked his intervention. The order did not offer a reason why.

Voting in favor of the denial were justices Yvonne Kauger, James Winchester, James Edmondson, Douglas Combs, Noma Gurich and Richard Darby. Justices Dustin Rowe and Dana Kuehn voted against the denial, with John Kane not participating in the vote.

Through a spokesman, Walters issued a statement criticizing the court.

“This decision by the Oklahoma Supreme Court is out of step with Oklahomans and our classrooms,” Walters said. “I’m extremely disappointed in their inability to do the right thing for families and kids. This is only one skirmish and I will not stop fighting for religious liberty.”

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond filed the lawsuit against the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board on Oct. 20. Drummond filed his suit after the board, by a 3-2 vote, approved the creation of what would be known as St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Charter School. Drummond has warned that approval of the Catholic charter school might eventually force Oklahoma to fund schools teaching Sharia law.

Walters filed his initial motion to intervene in the case on Nov. 7. Two days after the Supreme Court denied that motion, Bryan Cleveland, the general counsel for the Oklahoma State Department of Education, filed a motion for the Supreme Court to reconsider that decision, saying doing so and allowing Walters to intervene “would pragmatically settle the questions surrounding St. Isidore and its sponsorship and funding.”

During its Nov. 30 meeting, the state Board of Education approved Walters' request to retain lawyers from groups headquartered outside Oklahoma for the attempt to reverse the Supreme Court’s rulings.

Attorneys from Plano, Texas-based First Liberty Institute, which bills itself as “the largest legal organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to defending religious liberty for all Americans,” and Overland Park, Kan.-based Spencer Fane LLP represented Walters and the state Board of Education’s interests in the case. Attorneys from both First Liberty Institute and Spencer Fane were working pro bono on the case.

After that board meeting, Walters was adamant about challenging the court’s initial ruling.

“Obviously, when you look at a public school, when you look at accreditation, when you look at how funding actually gets to the school, it goes through the state Board of Education,” he said. “It goes through our board. Our agency has oversight as well. So we are obviously a litigant of the case.”

In court documents, Drummond urged the court to not allow Walters to intervene, saying at worst, Walters and the state Education Department “do not know their rule relative to school funding” and that at best, they “misrepresent their role.” Drummond also has argued that “the power of the attorney general to represent the interests of the State in this Court and other courts is absolute under current Oklahoma law.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Walters' intervention in Catholic charter school case denied again