In his press release, Drummond said the contract approval “violated the religious liberty of every Oklahoman” by forcing state residents to fund “the teachings of a specific religious sect with our tax dollars.”
“Today, Oklahomans are being compelled to fund Catholicism,” Drummond said. “Because of the legal precedent created by the board’s actions, tomorrow we may be forced to fund radical Muslim teachings like Sharia law.”
Drummond’s lawsuit argues that state laws and regulations “strictly prohibit the sponsorship of a sectarian virtual charter school.”
Drummond in the suit declared himself “duty bound to file [the lawsuit] to protect religious liberty and prevent the type of state-funded religion that Oklahoma’s constitutional framers and the founders of our country sought to prevent.”
The attorney general’s office further argued that the state risks losing more than $1 billion in education dollars from the federal government. Those funds are contingent upon “compliance with applicable laws” regarding religious establishments.
The charter school “clearly violates the Establishment Clause and must be stopped,” the lawsuit states. It asks the court to “correct the board’s unlawful actions.”