This back to school season, a big legal fight is brewing in Oklahoma.

In June, a state board approved plans for Saint Isador of Seville Virtual Catholic School.

It's named after the patron saint of the internet.

It would be the first publicly funded religious charter school in the country.

What we're trying to achieve here is to deliver more options to kids, largely in the

rural areas of our state that are stuck with one option and most often those options

are just inadequate.

And so we have a great need in that area, also in the special needs area where kids

just need more specialized education.

We've been about this as a Catholic church for 500 years.

We want to continue to expand those options so those kids that need it.

Creating a religious public charter school is not religious freedom, forcing taxpayers

to fund a religious school that, as they openly admit, will be a place of evangelicalization

for one specific religion is not religious freedom.

That's Reverend Laurie Waukey, Senior Minister at Mayflower Congregational UCC Church.

She's one of the plaintiffs suing the block the school from opening.

Before that, you heard Brett Farley, Executive Director of the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma.

While separate are Church and State when it comes to public education, and what would

approval for St. Isador mean for schools around the country?

After the break, we check in with Beth Wallace.

She's a reporter with State Impact, Oklahoma.

That's a reporting project of NPR member stations.

...