National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation, Inc. v. Drummond
Case Snapshot
Families across Oklahoma need better educational options for their children. The National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation wants to help meet this need by joining Oklahoma’s charter school program and offering families a rigorous, values-based education that integrates academic excellence with religious learning. But the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s ruling in St. Isidore v. Drummond bars faith-based schools from joining the charter program. Ben Gamla is challenging that exclusion in federal court to ensure that religious schools can serve Oklahoma families.
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Case Summary
Opening doors to educational opportunities in the Sooner State
Since 2007, Peter Deutsch has built a network of Hebrew-language charter schools, known as the Ben Gamla Charter Schools, across the state of Florida. They have served over twenty thousand diverse students and offer an education focused on Hebrew language, culture, and history. Ben Gamla schools have an outstanding record of academic excellence and ethical instruction, while also maintaining open admissions and diverse hiring of individuals who support their mission.
Drawing on that experience, Deutsch incorporated the National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation in Oklahoma and applied for charter authorization in Oklahoma to start an online charter school open to students of all faiths. He wants to give Sooner families a high-quality option that pairs strong academics with religious learning and spiritual formation. Oklahoma’s charter school regulations are uniquely suited to such educational innovation and would allow Ben Gamla to provide an education tailored to the individual needs of many diverse students.
Oklahoma Supreme Court excludes faith-based charter schools
Unfortunately, in March 2026, the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board denied Ben Gamla’s application. While members of the Charter School Board praised Ben Gamla’s model, they determined that under the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s ruling in St. Isidore v. Drummond, faith-based charter schools are not allowed to participate on equal footing with other private schools. That case went all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States, which split 4–4, leaving the constitutional questions unresolved. Oklahoma has continued to treat St. Isidore as a blanket prohibition on religious charter schools.
Becket fights for Ben Gamla’s right to serve Oklahoma families
This is yet another example of government officials attempting to exclude religious groups from publicly available education benefits. In fact, Attorney General Drummond was honored as “Secularist of the Week” by anti-religion group Freedom From Religion Foundation for opposing Ben Gamla and other religious schools. Despite the Supreme Court’s clear guidance in Trinity Lutheran, Espinoza, and Carson—which held that religious institutions cannot be denied access to public funding simply because of their religious character—states continue to take steps that shut out religious schools from programs offered to other private institutions.
Importance to Religious Liberty:
- Education: Religious schools should be able to participate in publicly available programs without discrimination, and religious school students should be able to participate in these programs on equal footing as students who attend non-religious schools.