Follow-Up: Oklahoma Charter Board Votes to Appeal to the Tenth Circuit in Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Case
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board voted on Oct. 23 to file a notice of appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, challenging a Sept. 24 ruling by U.S. District Judge David L. Russell. The ruling held that the state may not exclude the Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School from the state's charter school program solely because of its religious character, and allowed its application to proceed while the lawsuit continues. According to News9, the board took the vote at its Friday meeting; its next meeting is set for Nov. 5.
GSM reported on Oct. 22 that the board would meet on Oct. 23 to take up the application's future. On Oct. 12, the board had voted 4-3 in favor of the Ben Gamla application, one vote short of the five needed for approval, leaving it unapproved. In an Oct. 20 open letter to board chairman Brian T. Shellem, Ben Gamla founder Peter Deutsch wrote that the board's renewed denial violated the court's order and that the foundation would seek further judicial relief, including possible contempt proceedings, if the board did not act; he also urged the board to file a notice of appeal to clarify the legal situation. A board spokeswoman declined to comment at the time because of the active litigation, according to The Oklahoman.
Shellem said after Friday's meeting that appealing was the board's only remaining course of action. "We've always been in compliance with the Oklahoma Supreme Court," he said. "We are bound not to be able to take a vote based on the Attorney General's opinion. With that, we're left with one option."
Ben Gamla proposes an online Jewish charter school that, if approved, would become the nation's first religious public charter school, a point its supporters have emphasized; the foundation behind it already operates six nonreligious charter schools in Florida. In 2024, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled in the separate St. Isidore Catholic charter school case that taxpayer-funded religious charter schools violate the state constitution and law, and the U.S. Supreme Court later left that state ruling in place. The legal fight over religious charter schools is expected to continue with this appeal.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：俄克拉荷马城（Oklahoma City）市中心天际线。摄影：Quintin Soloviev，CC BY 4.0（Wikimedia Commons）。Photo: the downtown Oklahoma City skyline. Photo by Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons).
- 2026-10-22Oklahoma Charter Board Schedules Third Vote October 23 on Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School
- 2026-10-23Follow-Up: Oklahoma Charter Board Votes to Appeal to the Tenth Circuit in Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School CaseThis story
