How religious public schools went from a long shot to the Supreme Court

The proposal was the most audacious Robert Franklin had seen during his four decades in education: The Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City wanted to create the nation’s first religious, taxpayer-funded public charter school.

Franklin, who chaired a state board responsible for approving new charter schools, saw the idea as patently illegal and an obvious assault on the separation of church and state. Oklahoma would be directly sponsoring — and paying for — a school that promises to inject religion into every aspect of its teaching and expect students “to adhere” to its beliefs.

He was sure the idea would quickly die.