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.
Watch OKC musicians play before Great American State Fair in Washington, D.C.
The longtime Oklahoma friends and global music ambassadors are set to perform July 2-3 on The Great American State Fair’s Legacy Stage.
In the three decades since they started making music together, Kyle Dillingham and Peter Markes have taken their Heartland acoustic sound from their Enid hometown and southwest Oklahoma’s Quartz Mountains to China, Kuwait and Kosovo.
“Thirty-one years and over 40 countries later, representing our state and our country, then being selected to be there in an official capacity in performing for the 250th anniversary of our country … this is perhaps the most important and special honor of our careers — and personally in our lives,” Dillingham said.
The longtime friends, bandmates and global music ambassadors have been selected as official performers for the ongoing Great American State Fair, an event continuing through July 10 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. It is part of Freedom 250, the White House-backed celebration of the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.
The Oklahoma City musical duo is set to perform July 2-3 on the Legacy Stage at The Great American State Fair, billed as a “world-class exposition and modern-day World’s Fair celebrating the people, traditions, innovations, and spirit that make America the greatest nation on Earth.”
“It is really special,” Markes told The Oklahoman. “As we’re representing our country in our country, I think it’s important that we represent Oklahoma and, really, the Heartland … of America.”
Who are OKC musicians Kyle Dillingham and Peter Markes?
Although they have known each other their entire lives, Dillingham and Markes — who are distantly related — didn’t really start making music together until they were both Enid High School juniors attending the Oklahoma Arts Institute at Quartz Mountain, an intensive, nationally recognized two-week residential arts academy at Quartz Mountain State Park and Lodge near Lone Wolf.
“We loaded up in my car and headed down, and those two weeks when we were down there … we just jammed every break, before and after dinner and every meal and every night,” Dillingham recalled.
“That’s really where we started playing (together) and crossing our styles, when Kyle taught me how to hold a guitar pick — at that time, I didn’t even know how to do that,” added Markes, who grew up in nearby Waukomis until moving to Enid in middle school. “He had never heard of James Taylor, and I’d never heard of Bob Wills.”
After they graduated from Enid High School in 1997, Markes and Dillingham were roommates at Oklahoma City University.
“The summer after our freshman year at OCU, we started traveling for our university as student ambassadors, and that first summer, amazing things happened, like an impromptu performance for the king … of Malaysia,” Dillingham recalled. “We were two boys who play guitar and fiddle acoustic. … So, there was a flexibility and ease of working with us, because we could fit in the back of a taxi, and as long as they kept shoveling the food in, we were happy.”
By the time they both graduated from OCU, Markes said the duo had already performed across the globe, from North Africa and Central Europe to East Asia and points across South and Central America.
A 2009 Oklahoma Governor’s Arts Award recipient, Dillingham has continued to play around the world as a full-time musician, with Markes often touring with him as part of Dillingham’s Americana band Horseshoe Road.
For 15 years, Markes also worked as orchestra director for Edmond North High School. He was named Oklahoma Teacher of the Year for 2013-2014, and he subsequently retired from full-time teaching to spend more time making music.
Oklahoma duo won’t let politics get in the way of musical ambassadorship
In 2013, Kyle Dillingham & Horseshoe Road, including Markes, were selected for the American Music Abroad program and dispatched on a 35-day world tour, traveling to South Korea, Taiwan, Myanmar and Russia.
The Oklahoma band was selected again for the U.S. Department of State-sanctioned program in 2019, performing in Kuwait and the Republic of Kosovo.
Also in 2019 — the same year Dillingham made his official Grand Ole Opry debut, seizing the historic Nashville stage on a skateboard while sawing away on his fiddle — he, Markes and Horseshoe Road bassist Brent Saulsbury took their 10-day “Silk Road and The Fiddle Sister State Tour” through China.
“They want me to bring the skateboard … to Washington, D.C.,” Dillingham said with a grin. “When I was invited to make my Grand Ole Opry debut, I was like, ‘This has been a journey, and I don’t want to do this without Peter there.’ So, we debuted at the Opry. … But this is really something, to be in the recorded history of the 250th anniversary of our country — and for our kids and our (future) grandkids to know that we officially participated.”
Last year, Dillingham was selected as a cultural performer at Expo 2025 Osaka in Japan, where he played on the USA Pavilion stage. He said that led to him being invited to apply to become a performer on The Great American State Fair’s Legacy Stage, which is presented by the Meridian Center for Culture and Sports Diplomacy in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and Leading Authorities Inc.
“I think there’s a lot of tension on the main stage and with the big-name acts and all of that. But this is a stage that’s curated by the National Endowment for the Arts, and their purpose is to really display … a sample of the culture of America and the storytelling of America,” said Dillingham, who released a patriotic solo album titled “America the Beautiful” over Memorial Day.
The duo anticipates playing Wills’ standards, bluegrass-gospel classics and patriotic songs, along with their original acoustic music. They fly out to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, July 1, which is Markes’ 47th birthday.
With their long years of experience as global music ambassadors, the pair said they don’t get distracted by politics at any event they’re invited to perform — and they won’t focus on politics this time, either.
“Our belief is that, with music, it’s a very powerful tool, and it has the power to change lives positively. Specifically, our goals with our music would be to inspire, encourage and heal,” Dillingham, 47, said.
“We have been in so many varied situations with our music around the world, and what’s important is that no matter what the situation, we have to … make the most of where we are — and where we’re going to be is right smack dab in the heart of the 250th anniversary of our country.”
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (KOKH) — Pike Off OTA, a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing the development of two proposed turnpikes, has filed a federal lawsuit against the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority to stop the construction of the East-West Connector “EWC” Turnpike Project, citing environmental concerns.
In the lawsuit, Pike Off OTA says construction of the EWC Turnpike Project is negatively impacting critical habitats for endangered species and the surrounding environment.
The lawsuit also alleges OTA is violating the Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the Federal Transportation Act.
Pike Off OTA aims to stop further construction and prevent additional bond funding until the required permits and environmental reviews have been completed.
Other Defendants Listed in the Lawsuit:
- United States Army Corps, Tulsa Division (USACE)
- Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
- Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation
- United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)
The East-West Connector Turnpike is part of ACCESS Oklahoma, a long-range plan to update Oklahoma’s turnpikes, bridges, and pavement and add three new routes in the Oklahoma City metro area.
Mission Statement from the ACCESS Oklahoma website:
This 15-year long-range plan has always been about motorist safety. OTA’s mission is to help facilitate traffic throughout the state by seamlessly connecting with the state highway system, thereby providing a choice for a safe, convenient, and efficient user-funded transportation network. OTA’s goal is to provide safe infrastructure while maintaining the lowest toll rate possible for our customers.
Pike Off OTA’s lawsuit is focusing on the EWC Turnpike, which Pike OFF said acts as a four-lane toll road expressway from I-44 Tri-City area (Newcastle, Blanchard, Tuttle) at SH-37. The turnpike will cross the South Canadian River, east to I-35 along Indian Hills Road in the Moore/Norman area.
The turnpike will also connect to the new Kickapoo Turnpike.
In the lawsuit, Pike Off OTA said installments and construction areas will permanently impact the Waters of the United States.
The EWC requires numerous installments and construction areas, including the building of temporary and permanent access roads, that will materially, and in some instances, permanently impact the Waters of the United States in the subject project area; notably the Canadian River, Lake Thunderbird, and Lost Creek. In sum, the EWC Project proposes the construction of approximately 30.5 miles of turnpike with two new bridges spanning the Canadian River, and other construction activities that will include the discharge and fill of materials into federally protected jurisdictions and waterways.
Pike Off OTA said that the OTA, USACE, FHWA, FWS, and the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation have all failed to uphold their duties to ensure the protection of Oklahoma’s wildlife, waterways, natural environment, and Pike Off OTA’s procedural rights.
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The Oklahoma Highway Patrol is competing once again in the American Association of State Troopers’ Best Looking Cruiser Contest, this time showcasing the agency’s history alongside its modern fleet.
The entry features OHP’s restored 1937 Ford patrol car paired with a current Chevrolet Tahoe, highlighting nearly nine decades of the agency’s patrol vehicle tradition.
OHP highlights historic patrol car
According to OHP, the contest entry celebrates the agency’s original 1937 Ford patrol car and its connection to the modern Chevrolet Tahoe used by troopers today.
The agency says the iconic black-and-white “dovetail” paint scheme debuted on the 1937 Ford, with the white paint wrapping over the rear wheel wells. OHP says that design became the foundation for the look that continues to represent the agency today.
How voting works
The Best Looking Cruiser Contest is decided by public vote here.
OHP says each device is allowed one vote, and every vote is important as the agency competes against perennial favorites for a chance to earn a spot in the 2027 American Association of State Troopers calendar.
Looking to improve on last year
Oklahoma finished eighth in the nation in last year’s Best Looking Cruiser Contest.
The agency is hoping this year’s entry featuring both its historic 1937 Ford and modern Chevrolet Tahoe will help improve its finish and secure a place in the 2027 calendar.
“As Route 66 celebrates its 100th birthday, we wanted to honor the most iconic highway in America and the Oklahoma Troopers who have patrolled it for generations,” OHP said. “Since 1937, Oklahoma Highway Patrol Troopers have traveled its pavement, assisted stranded motorists, investigated crashes, enforced traffic laws, and answered calls for service along the Mother Road. Route 66 isn’t just a historic highway to us—it’s part of our history.”
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