Oklahoma’s attorney general is accusing a state board of trying to rig the legal fight over a proposed Jewish charter school – a dispute that could open the door for publicly funded religious charter schools across the United States.
Oklahoma
Oklahoma Attorney-General accuses rigging of Jewish charter shcool vote | The Jerusalem Post
Attorney General Gentner Drummond filed a motion this week asking an Oklahoma County district judge to intervene after the Statewide Charter School Board rejected an application to open the Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School, a virtual statewide school that would combine secular studies with Jewish religious instruction.
Drummond alleges that the board engineered its vote so the rejection would focus only on the school’s religious character, strengthening the legal case for the school’s supporters, who are preparing a federal lawsuit challenging Oklahoma’s ban on religious charter schools.
“A state agency that deliberately hobbles its own legal position is not doing its job – it is betraying Oklahoma taxpayers. I will not allow that,” Drummond said in a statement.
He added: “The Board deliberately suppressed those findings to manufacture a cleaner path to federal court. I will not allow this Board to rig the record at taxpayers’ expense.”
Drummond asked the court to order the board to issue a new rejection letter detailing all of the reasons the proposal was deficient.
The dispute centers on the National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation, led by former Florida Democratic Rep. Peter Deutsch. The group applied to open a statewide online charter school serving kindergarten through 12th-grade students beginning next school year.
The proposal called for a curriculum combining secular coursework with daily Jewish religious studies. If approved, it would have become the nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school.
Jewish groups in Oklahoma have opposed the proposal, saying they prefer not to be thrust into the middle of a debate over church-state separation and that there is little demand for such a school among local Jewish residents.
The charter board voted earlier this week to reject the application, citing a 2024 Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling that charter schools must remain secular.
That ruling overturned a previous effort to open a Catholic charter school, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. An appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court ended in a 4–4 tie after Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself, leaving the state court decision in place.
Several board members said the precedent left them no choice but to reject Ben Gamla’s application.
At the same time, the board has signaled it may support the school’s broader constitutional argument in court. The board hired the conservative Christian legal group First Liberty Institute to represent it in the expected litigation and has indicated it could back the school’s position once a lawsuit is filed.
Drummond also fought Catholic charter school proposal
Drummond, who also fought the Catholic charter school proposal, said the legal question about religious charter schools had already been settled by the state courts and insisted his objection to the board’s vote was procedural rather than religious.
Among the issues he says the board improperly left out was a discrepancy in Ben Gamla’s projected enrollment.
Deutsch initially said the online school would serve about 40 high school students, but the formal application projected enrollment of 400 students across grades K-12.
State officials also raised questions about the composition of the school’s governing board. Oklahoma law requires a charter school board to include a parent or grandparent of a student. Ben Gamla listed Brett Farley, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma, as its parent representative.
Supporters of the school have said they plan to challenge Oklahoma’s prohibition on religious charter schools in federal court, arguing that excluding religious schools from charter programs violates the Constitution’s protections for religious freedom.
Oklahoma
UFL Expanding to Oklahoma City, Moving to 10 Teams in 2028
The more, the merrier!
The United Football League announced on Thursday morning that it’s expanding to 10 teams in 2028, including the addition of a team in Oklahoma City.
“Oklahoma lives and breathes football, so bringing the UFL to Oklahoma City was an easy decision,” UFL Co-Owner Mike Repole said in a statement about the inclusion of Oklahoma City. “This is a state that shows up, cares deeply, and truly understands the game. From college powerhouses to Friday night lights, football runs deep here. We’re committed to building a franchise in OKC that the entire state can rally behind.”
The Oklahoma City UFL team doesn’t yet have a name but will play its home games at MAPS 4 Multipurpose Stadium, which is under construction. The location of the other expansion team isn’t known, either.
“Oklahoma City has long been one of the most glaring vacancies on the professional football map,” UFL President & CEO Russ Brandon said in a statement. “The combination of a new stadium, deep-rooted football culture, and a city that has proven its ability to support major league sports makes this an easy decision. We are thrilled to bring the UFL’s brand of high-octane spring football to the passionate fans of Oklahoma.”
The lone professional sports team in Oklahoma City is the Thunder, who just won their first NBA championship in franchise history last season. Elsewhere, the Oklahoma Sooners (college) are located roughly 25 minutes south of Oklahoma City, while the Oklahoma State Cowboys (college) are located roughly 70 minutes north of Oklahoma City.
As for this season, which is two weeks young, the UFL has three new teams: the Columbus Aviators, Louisville Kings and Orlando Storm.
Oklahoma
Suspect outstanding after shooting involving police in southwest OKC
Police are searching for a suspect after a shooting involving an officer in southwest Oklahoma City on Wednesday.
Suspect outstanding after shooting involving police in southwest OKC
Police are searching for a suspect after a shooting involving an officer in southwest Oklahoma City on Wednesday.
Police are searching for a suspect after a shooting involving an officer in southwest Oklahoma City on Wednesday. >> Open the video player above for a look at the scene. At about 6 p.m., the Oklahoma City Police Department said officers were responding to a shooting near Southwest 96th Street and South Pennsylvania Avenue.Police said a suspect and a police officer exchanged gunfire, but the officer was not hit. Officers were searching for the suspect, and it wasn’t clear if they had been shot.This is a developing story. Top Headlines 3 people, including an Oklahoma trooper and 4-year-old child, killed in crash on I-35 in OKC What we know about the recovery mission for American woman who reportedly fell overboard in the Bahamas Principal shot by former student in lobby of Pauls Valley High School: What we know TIMELINE: Oklahoma to see several days of severe storm risks starting later this week Former FedEx driver pleads guilty to killing 7-year-old Oklahoma girl in Texas
Police are searching for a suspect after a shooting involving an officer in southwest Oklahoma City on Wednesday.
>> Open the video player above for a look at the scene.
At about 6 p.m., the Oklahoma City Police Department said officers were responding to a shooting near Southwest 96th Street and South Pennsylvania Avenue.
Police said a suspect and a police officer exchanged gunfire, but the officer was not hit. Officers were searching for the suspect, and it wasn’t clear if they had been shot.
This is a developing story.
Top Headlines
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Oklahoma
‘He’s a hero!’ Oklahoma principal shot confronting gunman
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — A Pauls Valley High School principal is recovering after police say he confronted and stopped an armed former student inside the school Tuesday afternoon, taking a bullet while protecting students from what officials say could have been a far worse tragedy.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) says the suspect is 20-year-old Victor Hawkins, a former Pauls Valley High School student.
Hawkins is in the Garvin County Jail, charged with two counts of pointing a firearm, one count of shooting with intent to kill and two counts of unlawful carry.
What happened Tuesday is not something people in the small town of Pauls Valley even thought was possible.
“Certainly don’t expect these type of situations to happen in your town,” Pauls Valley Police Chief Don May said.
“This is a an educators worst nightmare,” State Superintendent Lindel Fields said.
“It’s just—it’s something we never even put in our head would ever come to our school that come to our school,” student Cody McLaughlin said.
“This is small town, small school,” student William Harris said. “Not a lot of things happen.”
“No one even jokes about stuff like this because we know just how serious it is,” McLaughlin said.
But things quickly became all too real in flash Tuesday afternoon.
“Sixth hour ended and we were going to walk to our cars to get some things of our cars,” McLaughlin said. “And we heard a gunshot go off.”
“It was kind of like you try not to believe it for a second,” Harris said. “Not here. Not Pauls Valley.”
“You’re kind of flustered,” McLaughlin said. “You don’t know exactly what to do, but you’re trying to text everybody, tell everybody you’re okay. You’re trying to text your friends to make sure they’re okay. You know, it’s just there’s a lot of things, you know.”
“We were just praying that everybody’s okay,” Harris said.
Investigators say Hawkins walked into the front doors of Pauls Valley High School armed with a gun, right next to Principal Kirk Moore’s office.
“Once the principal saw that the subject had a firearm, he stepped in to do what he could,” OSBI spokesperson Hunter McKee said.
“And [Moore] jumped on the jumped on the on the shooter,” McLaughlin said. “And in the process of that, he got shot in the leg.”
Moore, a 35-year educator, was flown to an Oklahoma City hospital, where officials say he is expected to recover.
“We actually like him a lot,” McLaughlin said.
“He’s a good guy,” Harris said. “He helps a lot. He is very face to face with everything. He doesn’t just kind of tell you what to do, he helps you do everything, even if it’s not school related.”
“He was a Pauls Valley guy all his life,” Pauls Valley Public Schools Superintendent Brett Knight said. “You won’t meet to bigger Panther.”
Authorities say Moore was the only person injured in the shooting Tuesday.
“I can’t overemphasize the actions of school staff, the people that don’t have firearms for protection, stepping in and protecting their kids,” May said. “It was amazing for me to see that today.”
“If it wasn’t for the actions of the principal and the staff, I don’t know what other outcome we had,” Garvin County Sheriff Jim Mullett said.
Students and school leaders say Moore’s actions likely prevented something much worse.
“I mean, he’s a hero,” Harris said.
“I know the word gets where it gets thrown around quite a bit but he is a hero,” Knight said.
“I just want to say thank you. God bless him,” Fields said.
“He saved a lot of people today. He’s a good man,” McLaughlin said.
Pauls Valley Public Schools says classes will be canceled at least through Wednesday.
The district says it will bring in counselors to talk with anyone who may need it after what happened.
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