“Last month, the Supreme Court agreed to weigh in on the constitutionality of Oklahoma’s St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School — what would be the country’s first religious charter school.

The case has all the hallmarks of a blockbuster church-state case, addressing the constitutionality of publicly funded religious education and potentially opening the door to tuition-free Jewish day schools. But the crux of the case comes down to which path the court will pick when facing a constitutional fork in the road: Should charter schools — which are publicly authorized and funded, but privately operated — be considered public schools or private schools?

This question has divided educators for decades, ever since charter schools were developed as a strategy to improve public education. And for the Supreme Court in the Oklahoma case, its answer makes all the difference. A religious public school is likely a constitutional non-starter — even for a court like this one has shown a willingness to shift the borders of church-state separation. But under longstanding precedent, a religious private school is entitled to receive funding equal to its nonreligious private school counterparts.”

Read the full piece by Michael Helfand in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency