() An Oklahoma state official vowed Thursday to revive plans for a publicly assisted religious charter school after the U.S. Supreme Court deadlocked on the issue.
With their 4-4 tie vote and Justice Amy Coney Barrett recusing, the federal justices upheld an Oklahoma Supreme Court decision barring state support for a Catholic online charter school that would include teaching of religious doctrine.
The Oklahoma attorney general had sued to stop the plan, while Ryan Walters, the state’s superintendent of public instruction, supported the charter as a way to offer parents more choices.
“I think it would be a tremendous school. We’re going to continue to look at every avenue to get this case back to the Supreme Court,” Walters told “The Hill” on Thursday. “We could be looking at a constitutional amendment in our state to help our state bolster its argument moving forward.”
Thursday’s decision sets no national precedent meaning, observers say, the question of whether states can sponsor and finance religious schools is unsettled.
Charter schools, which are independently run and publicly assisted, are allowed in most states.
