Oklahoma AG challenges Jewish charter school vote

OKLAHOMA CITY — Attorney General Gentner Drummond again took a state board to court over its vote on a religious charter school.

The Statewide Charter School Board on Monday rejected an application to open Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School because its curriculum would include religious teaching. Drummond alleged the vote was deliberately rigged to benefit the school’s chances in court.

He said there were multiple reasons to deny the application, but the board engineered its vote to focus solely on the religious aspect. He asked an Oklahoma County district judge on Wednesday to order the board to issue a new and complete rejection letter that includes all valid grounds for denying the school.

Once the school’s founders file an expected federal lawsuit, that legal challenge would be easier for the school to win because the board “manipulated the record” and left other deficiencies out, the attorney general contended.