Charter schools are public schools. Like other public schools, they are funded with taxpayer dollars, must serve all students, may not discriminate on the basis of religion or other protected characteristics, and are subject to public oversight. Because they are public schools, charter schools are required under state and federal law to remain nonreligious. The Oklahoma Supreme Court affirmed these principles in a 2024 decision called Drummond v. Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board.
Nonetheless, a religious organization called The Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation is trying to open the nation’s first religious public charter school in Oklahoma. On March 24, 2026, Ben Gamla filed a lawsuit in federal court, seeking to force the state to authorize and fund it as a charter school that integrates Jewish religious teachings into its “every dimension.”
So on April 1, 2026, on behalf of a predominantly Jewish group of seven Oklahoma taxpayers, we joined allies in filing a motion to intervene as defendants in the case, which is being litigated in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. Our clients are families with children attending public schools, including a public-school teacher and a rabbi. They object to their tax dollars funding a public charter school that will indoctrinate students into a particular religion. They also object to public funds being diverted from their nonreligious and inclusive public schools—which already face serious resource limitations—to a religious school that plans to discriminate based on religion.
Our motion to intervene asked the court to allow our clients to participate in the case in order to safeguard their interests in public education, religious freedom and church-state separation. We are cocounseling this case alongside Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, the American Civil Liberties Union, Education Law Center, and Freedom From Religion Foundation.
On April 17, 2026, we submitted a proposed brief opposing a request Ben Gamla had made for a preliminary injunction. On June 3, 2026, the court granted our motion to intervene, meaning that our clients will participate in the lawsuit as intervenor-defendants.
