Court ruling on Catholic charter could be a poison pill

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether Oklahoma must approve religious charter schools because it already approves secular charters, writes Michael Petrilli in Education Next. The Catholic archdiocese claims the rejection of its online charter proposal is anti-religious discrimination.

If the court buys that argument -- and Petrilli thinks it's likely -- "religious charter schools would become legal overnight in every one of the 46 states with charter school laws on the books."

But religious schools would have to decide whether freeing families from the need to pay tuition is worth the loss of independence. Many are struggling to compete with tuition-free charters. It would be very tempting to go charter. But the devil is in the details, Petrilli warns.

Would a Catholic charter be allowed to give priority admission to Catholic students? Charters must hold a lottery if too many students apply. Would a Lutheran charter be allowed to hire Lutheran teachers and other staff. What about would-be students or staff who don't share the school's values on LGBT issues?

Some charter advocates oppose religious charters, he writes, because they're worried states will stop approving any new charters. It's "easy to imagine blue states and their districts and authorizers clamping down on new charter schools altogether," writes Petrilli.

Urban charters are "the most successful education reform initiative in a generation," he writes. A Supreme Court ruling in favor of religious charters could be a poison pill.

Andy Smarick believes the Court will approve faith-based charter schools, and that it will be "sensible, good for schooling, and good for America."