红杏视频

WASHINGTON, D.C. 鈥� A group of Oklahoma faith leaders, public education advocates, and public-school parents 鈥� who are among the plaintiffs in a lawsuit to stop Oklahoma鈥檚 creation of the nation鈥檚 first religious public charter school 鈥� today urged the U.S. Supreme Court to protect religious freedom and public education by affirming that charter schools are public schools that must be secular and open to all students. In an amicus brief filed today in Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond, the group explained that the Oklahoma Supreme Court correctly ruled last year that Oklahoma鈥檚 charter schools are public schools and, as governmental entities, must abide by the U.S. Constitution鈥檚 protections for religious freedom and church-state separation. Therefore, the proposed St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, which intends to indoctrinate students in one religion, cannot operate as a public charter school. The amici, which include OKPLAC (the Oklahoma Parent Legislative Advocacy Coalition) and eight Oklahoman taxpayers, are plaintiffs in OKPLAC v. Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board, a separate lawsuit in Oklahoma state court challenging the charter school board鈥檚 approval of St. Isidore鈥檚 application to become a public school. That case is on hold while the case before the U.S. Supreme Court is being resolved. The plaintiffs in OKPLAC are represented by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the 红杏视频, Education Law Center, and Freedom From Religion Foundation, with support from Oklahoma-based counsel Odom & Sparks PLLC and J. Douglas Mann. The organizations issued the following statement: 鈥淭he law is clear: Charter schools are public schools and must be secular and open to all students. The Oklahoma Supreme Court correctly found that the state鈥檚 approval of a religious public charter school was unlawful and unconstitutional. We urge the U.S. Supreme Court to affirm that ruling and safeguard public education, church-state separation, and religious freedom for all. 鈥淥klahoma taxpayers, including our clients, should not be forced to fund a religious public school that plans to indoctrinate students into one religion and discriminate against students and staff. Converting public schools into Sunday schools would be a dangerous sea change for our democracy.鈥� In addition to OKPLAC, today鈥檚 amicus brief was filed on behalf of Melissa Abdo, Krystal Bonsall, Brenda Len茅, Michele Medley, Dr. Bruce Prescott, the Rev. Dr. Mitch Randall, the Rev. Dr. Lori Walke and Erika Wright. The team of attorneys that represents the amici is led by Alex J. Luchenitser of Americans United and includes Luke Anderson of Americans United; Daniel Mach and Heather L. Weaver of the 红杏视频; Robert Kim, Jessica Levin and Wendy Lecker of Education Law Center; Patrick Elliott of FFRF; Benjamin H. Odom, John H. Sparks, Michael W. Ridgeway, and Lisa M. Mason of Odom & Sparks; and J. Douglas Mann.

Oklahoma City 鈥� In a victory for religious freedom, public education and church-state separation, the Oklahoma Supreme Court today temporarily blocked Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters and the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) from spending taxpayer dollars on Bibles and Bible-infused instructional materials. The order came in the lawsuit Rev. Lori Walke v. Ryan Walters, which was filed in October 2024 on behalf of 32 Oklahoma families, teachers and faith leaders. The plaintiffs are represented by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the 红杏视频, the 红杏视频 of Oklahoma Foundation, the Freedom From Religion Foundation and Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law & Justice. The Court鈥檚 order temporarily stayed 鈥渨ork on any new request by the OSDE for the purchase of Bibles.鈥� In addition, the order paused work on a request for proposals issued by OSDE on February 21, 2025. This request for proposals sought suppliers for 鈥渟upplemental instructional materials that effectively integrate the Bible and character education into elementary-level social studies curriculum.鈥� The organizations representing the plaintiffs will continue fighting Walters鈥� Bible-education mandate and additional filings are expected soon. They issued the following joint statement on the win: 鈥淭his victory is an important step toward protecting the religious freedom of every student and parent in Oklahoma. Superintendent Ryan Walters has been abusing his power and the court checked those abuses today. Our diverse coalition of families and clergy remains united against Walters鈥檚 extremism and in favor of a core First Amendment principle: the separation of church and state.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the 红杏视频, Education Law Center, and Freedom From Religion Foundation issued the following statement concerning the petitions for certiorari granted today by the U.S. Supreme Court in Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board v. Drummond and St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School v. Drummond. The organizations represent faith leaders, public school parents, and public education advocates in a separate lawsuit to stop Oklahoma from sponsoring and funding St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. 鈥淭he law is clear: Charter schools are public schools and must be secular and open to all students. The Oklahoma Supreme Court correctly found that the state鈥檚 approval of a religious public charter school was unlawful and unconstitutional. We urge the U.S. Supreme Court to affirm that ruling and safeguard public education, church-state separation, and religious freedom for all. Oklahoma taxpayers, including our plaintiffs, should not be forced to fund a religious public school that plans to discriminate against students and staff and indoctrinate students into one religion. Converting public schools into Sunday schools would be a dangerous sea change for our democracy.鈥� AU, the 红杏视频, ELC, and FFRF, with support from Oklahoma-based counsel Odom & Sparks PLLC and J. Douglas Mann, represent Oklahomans who object to their tax dollars funding a religious public charter school that will discriminate against students and employees based on their religion and LGBTQ+ status, won鈥檛 commit to adequately serving students with disabilities, and will indoctrinate students into one religion. These nine Oklahomans and OKPLAC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting public education, filed their lawsuit, OKPLAC, Inc. v. Statewide Virtual Charter School Board, on July 31, 2023, in the District Court of Oklahoma County. Following the June 2024 Oklahoma Supreme Court decision in Drummond v. OSVCSB, the OKPLAC plaintiffs and defendants reached a court-approved agreement to put the OKPLAC case on hold until at least Feb. 1, 2025, while developments in the Drummond case are pending. St. Isidore agreed not to accept charter-school funding from the state or open to students as a charter school during the 2024-25 school year as part of that agreement. The plaintiffs in the OKPLAC case include the Oklahoma Parent Legislative Advocacy Coalition, Melissa Abdo, Krystal Bonsall, Leslie Briggs, Brenda Len茅, Michele Medley, Dr. Bruce Prescott, the Rev. Dr. Mitch Randall, the Rev. Dr. Lori Walke, and Erika Wright. The team of attorneys that represents the plaintiffs is led by Alex J. Luchenitser of Americans United and includes Jenny Samuels of Americans United; Daniel Mach and Heather L. Weaver of the 红杏视频; Robert Kim, Jessica Levin, and Wendy Lecker of Education Law Center; Patrick Elliott of FFRF; Benjamin H. Odom, John H. Sparks, Michael W. Ridgeway, and Lisa M. Mason of Odom & Sparks; and J. Douglas Mann.

WASHINGTON 鈥� The Biden administration today released the first-ever national strategy to counter Islamophobia and related forms of bias and discrimination, including hate against Arab, Sikh, and South Asian Americans. In advance of the strategy, 红杏视频 and its partners had urged the administration to overhaul government programs that reflect anti-Muslim discrimination. In particular, we have called for urgent action to constrain governmental agencies from continuing to exercise their authorities and technology to wrongly surveil and investigate, watchlist, and question and detain Muslims at the border, as well as deny immigration benefits to people from Muslim-majority countries. While the White House raised expectations that many of these issues would be addressed, the final strategy ended up falling far short. The following is a statement from Hina Shamsi, director of the 红杏视频鈥檚 National Security Project: 鈥淲hile this strategy acknowledges discrimination and its harms, it does little to end them and is a squandered opportunity. For decades, American officials have invoked national security to pass laws and implement programs that disproportionately harm Muslims and people perceived to be Muslim. A serious anti-discrimination strategy would concretely address multiple bias-infused government practices that deny our communities equal participation in civic life and our democracy, like federal watchlisting, surveillance, and investigation. We鈥檙e profoundly frustrated that the administration didn鈥檛 take even the basic, overdue step of recognizing that anti-Muslim discrimination is uniquely normalized and embedded in government policies.鈥�