Ryan Walters continues efforts to join fight against AG's lawsuit over Catholic charter school approval

OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — State Superintendent Ryan Walters (R) and the Oklahoma State Department of Education continue to try and join a lawsuit in support of the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board, despite the Oklahoma State Supreme Court denying them a motion to join it.

On Thursday, Walters and the State Board of Education discussed hiring two outside law firms to help in litigation over a lawsuit Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond (R) filed against the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board.

"We're going to challenge that," Walters said after the board meeting about not being able to join in on the lawsuit. "It's outrageous that we wouldn't be in the case."

The AG filed the lawsuit in October against the OSVCSB for its approval of an application of St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual Charter School, which would be the nation's first religious charter school.

The only parties involved in the lawsuit are the Board, its members, and St. Isidore's, which was added to the suit a month later. Ryan Walters has joined OSVCSB meetings in the past but is a non-voting member.

On November 8th, Walters and OSDE filed a motion to intervene to become an intervener-respondent on the suit, just like St. Isidore's, which was approved to join the suit in a similar capacity. If approved, it would have effectively pitted the state's education leader against its Attorney General—an almost unheard-of move.

AG Drummond filed an objection, saying that Walters and OSDE's argument for a motion to intervene was "bizarre".

"...The movants bizarrely argue that the ministerial duty of correctly apportioning state aid funds to sponsored public charter schools and to all qualifying public schools pursuant to a legislatively-created formula is an interest that may be impeded or impaired by this original jurisdiction action. That is decidedly not the case. Petitioner’s prayer for a writ of mandamus compelling the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board to fulfill its legal duties and cancel its illegal contract with a sectarian institution in no way impacts the movants’ — or rather, the board of education’s — administrative duties, regardless of the outcome," his objection read.

On Nov. 14, the Oklahoma Supreme Court denied their request to join the lawsuit. The Supreme Court, however, did allow Walters and OSDE to file an amicus brief, also known as a "friend of the court" brief.

On Nov. 21, that amicus brief was filed. Despite being denied a motion to intervene seven days prior, Bryan Cleveland, OSDE's general counsel, labeled Ryan Walters and OSDE "intervenor-respondents" on the brief.

No other amicus brief filed with the court, of which there are many, labeled OSDE and Walters as intervenor-respondents.

At Thursday's education meeting, the board discussed retaining the First Liberty Institute and Spencer Fane to help in the litigation of the lawsuit—despite the board not being named in the lawsuit.

First Liberty Institute is a non-profit Christian conservative legal organization based in Plano, Texas. The firm bills itself as "America's Best Lawyers Defending Religious Freedom."

There are other lawsuits over the OSVCSB's approval of St. Isidore's, including one several parents and faith leaders filed in the Oklahoma County District Court shortly after the school's application was approved.

Walters mentioned the district court-level lawsuit after the board meeting Thursday. Walters and OSDE are defendants in that case.

"We're still in the (district court-level) case. Obviously, when you look at a public school, when you look at accreditation, when you look at how funding actually gets to the school it goes to the State Board of Education," Walters said. "We're absolutely not going to stand by and watch religious liberty be trampled."

First Liberty Institute and Spencer Fane are involved in one of those lawsuits that names Ryan Walters and OSDE as defendants. That lawsuit is not the one mentioned in Thursday's OSDE agenda.

"We're going to continue to fight for individuals religious liberty. We're going to fight to get back in on the case," Walters said. "And we're going to win."