Gentner Drummond and Mike Mazzei offer opposing paths as another lawsuit tests whether taxpayers can fund a religious public school.
Oklahoma’s long-running fight over religion and government is making an appearance in the Republican runoff for governor.
Attorney General Gentner Drummond says Oklahoma cannot use public money to operate a religious charter school as part of its public school system. Former state Sen. Mike Mazzei supports taxpayer-funded religious charter schools while promising to ban Sharia law.
Those positions place the Aug. 25 runoff against the backdrop of three related constitutional battles involving Islam, Catholicism and Judaism.
KOSU reported Monday that the disagreement surfaced during last week’s televised News 9 and News on 6 debate.
Drummond defended his successful lawsuit against St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School.
“We shall not fund any religious school,” Drummond said.
Mazzei cited President Donald Trump’s support for religious charter schools and argued that states and parents should have more educational choices.
The exchange then turned to Islam. Drummond warned that allowing religious public schools could open the door to schools teaching Sharia law. Mazzei countered: “I will ban Sharia law in the state of Oklahoma.”
Both candidates oppose taxpayer-funded instruction in Sharia law. They differ over how to prevent it. Drummond says Oklahoma must prohibit all religious public schools, regardless of faith. Mazzei supports religious charter schools but says Sharia law should be banned specifically.
Oklahoma has tried singling out Sharia before.
The Sharia-law precedent
In 2010, Oklahoma voters approved State Question 755, which would have prohibited state courts from considering Sharia law or international law. The proposal received 70.1% of the vote.
The results were never certified because a federal judge blocked the amendment.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that injunction in 2012. The court concluded that the measure discriminated among religions by singling out Islam and noted that state officials had not identified an Oklahoma case in which Sharia law had created a problem.
A federal district court permanently struck down the amendment in 2013.
Under the court rulings now in place, the principle runs in both directions. Government cannot single out one faith for unfavorable treatment, and Oklahoma cannot sponsor a religious public school. The Ben Gamla case is asking federal courts to reconsider the second part.
St. Isidore changes the question
In 2023, the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board twice voted 3-2 in support of St. Isidore—approving its revised application on June 5 and its sponsorship contract on Oct. 9. The Catholic virtual school would have operated as part of Oklahoma’s public school system and received taxpayer funding.
Drummond sued, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled 6-2 that charter schools are public schools and cannot be operated as religious schools. It ordered the board to cancel the contract.
After the decision, Drummond said keeping public schools secular protected religious freedom.
“Oklahomans can be assured that our tax dollars will not fund the teachings of Sharia Law or even Satanism,” he said in an official statement.
The U.S. Supreme Court later deadlocked 4-4, leaving Oklahoma’s ruling in place without settling the question nationally.
A Jewish school tries again
The Florida-based National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation applied to open a religious virtual school in Oklahoma. The charter board rejected the application twice, saying the St. Isidore decision left it no choice even though several board members disagreed with the ruling.
Ben Gamla sued and asked a federal judge to let the school open for the 2027-28 school year while the case continues. The judge heard arguments last week.
This is not a typical lawsuit. Ben Gamla and the board it sued both want the federal court to permit religious charter schools. The board says it rejected the application only because the Oklahoma Supreme Court required it to do so. A group of Oklahoma families, teachers and clergy has stepped in to defend the requirement that public charter schools remain secular.
Drummond says the board helped create that test case by omitting other problems with Ben Gamla’s application, leaving religion as the principal reason for its rejection.
The case could eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
What the runoff could change
The Aug. 25 runoff will not settle the constitutional question. It will select the Republican nominee for governor, not decide what the courts might allow.
The governor also cannot direct the independently elected attorney general to pursue or abandon a case.
But the office is not powerless. The governor appoints three members of the nine-member Statewide Charter School Board, signs or vetoes legislation and can use the state’s highest-profile office to support one side of the argument.
Drummond contends religious liberty is protected by keeping public schools free from religious control. Mazzei argues that excluding religious organizations from the charter system is itself discrimination.
Oklahoma’s next governor cannot decide where the Constitution draws that line. The election could determine whether the state defends the line it has now—or begins trying to move it again.
