Supreme Court to Hear Challenge to Religious Charter School in Oklahoma

The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Wednesday over the fate of the nation’s first religious charter school, in Oklahoma, which seeks to use government money to teach a curriculum infused by Catholic doctrine.In earlier cases from Maine and Montana, the court ruled that states that decide to create programs to help parents pay for private schools must allow them to choose religious ones.The main question in the new case is whether the First Amendment permits — or even requires — states to sponsor and finance religious charter schools, which are public schools with substantial autonomy.The Oklahoma school, St.

Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, is to be operated by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa and aims to incorporate Catholic teachings into every aspect of its activities.A ruling in favor of the school could affect laws in 45 other states that authorize charter schools.It would also blur a line established in earlier Supreme Court cases distinguishing between government money provided to parents to spend on private schools, including religious ones, and government support provided directly to religious schools.The dispute is the third major case dealing with religion to be argued before the justices in the space of about a month.

In March, the court seemed poised to rule that a Catholic charity in Wisconsin was entitled to a tax exemption that had been denied by a state court on the grounds that the charity’s activities were not primarily religious.Last week, the court signaled that it was likely to rule that parents with religious objections may withdraw their children from classes in which storybooks with L.G.B.T.Q.

themes are discussed.After Oklahoma’s charter school board approved the proposal to open St.Isidore, the state’s attorney general, Gentner Drummond, a Republican, sued to stop it.

Mr.Drummond said a religious public school would violate the First Amendment’s prohibition of government establish...