US Supreme Court blocks public funding for Oklahoma religious charter schools

A split Supreme Court ruling upholds a lower court decision that prohibited Oklahoma from establishing the nation's first Christian charter school.

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The justices were evenly split, voting 4-4 in a ruling on Thursday. The tie affirms a lower ruling from the Oklahoma State Supreme Court, which found the effort to establish the school violates the US Constitution.

An Oklahoma school board had approved the founding of a charter school run by the Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa that would have received roughly $23.3m (£18.7m) in state funding over five years.

A charter school is funded by taxpayers but independently managed.

The US Supreme Court's ruling is not considered a country-wide precedent and the justices could accept future cases related to the issue.