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Oklahoma Board Urged to Reject Ben Gamla’s Religious Public Charter School Application as Lacking Credibility and Community Support

Civil rights organizations point to Ben Gamla’s new disclosure that it seeks to enroll only 10 students in first year – an unfeasible plan that severely contradicts previous enrollment projections

OKLAHOMA CITY – In a letter sent today, national and Oklahoma civil rights organizations once again urged the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board to reject the nation’s first proposed religious public charter school, after the school recently admitted that it will not come close to meeting the student enrollment numbers predicted in its charter school application. Instead of opening with 335 to 495 enrolled K-12 students, as promised in its application, the proposed Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School has disclosed it now aims to operate as a high school with an “aspirational enrollment goal” of only 10 students during its first year.

As explained in the groups’ letter, the drastically reduced enrollment plan demonstrates that the school lacks community support, that the school is financially unsustainable, and that its application is non-compliant with Oklahoma’s charter school requirements.

The school’s severely scaled back enrollment efforts were revealed in a recent email sent by Ben Gamla founder Peter Deutsch of Florida to Oklahoma Jewish leaders asking for their help in finding 10 students for the school’s first year of operation, which would begin in September 2027. Among the recipients of Deutsch’s email was Rabbi Daniel Kaiman, one of the seven Oklahoma taxpayers participating in a lawsuit to oppose Ben Gamla’s approval as a religious public charter school. 

“I was surprised that Mr. Deutsch would not only ask for my help to enroll students in a public religious charter school – an endeavor I have publicly opposed because I believe in church-state separation and secular public education – but that he’d also invite me to apply to become the school’s principal,” Rabbi Kaiman said. “Mr. Deutsch’s email shows what we’ve long argued: Mr. Deutsch, who’s from Florida, and his school are completely disconnected from the Oklahoma Jewish community. It also shows how little our community wants this. Perhaps most importantly, it shows that this school is nothing but a Trojan horse for creating religious public schools. We don’t need or want this school. We want strong public schools and to keep church and state separate.”

Despite a recent federal court ruling that temporarily prohibits the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board from rejecting Ben Gamla’s application because of the school’s religious character, today’s letter reminds the board that the court’s order does not prevent it from rejecting the application on other grounds. Sent by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, the American Civil Liberties Union, Education Law Center, and Freedom From Religion Foundation, the letter argues that the school’s erratic shift in operational plans raises serious concerns about Ben Gamla’s credibility and ability to run a functioning public charter school funded by Oklahoma taxpayers. 

The organizations outlined multiple reasons why the board must reject Ben Gamla’s application, including:

  • Ben Gamla lacks community support. 
  • Ben Gamla is not financially or operationally viable. 
  • Ben Gamla’s application is fatally deficient.
  • Ben Gamla lacks any credibility.

Attorneys representing the intervenors include Alex J. Luchenitser and Lauren Schoen of Americans United; Brent Rowland and Morgan Bandy of the Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice; Daniel Mach and Heather L. Weaver of the ACLU; Jessica Levin, Wendy Lecker, Patrick Cremin, and Katrina Reichert of Education Law Center; and Nancy A. Noet and Samuel T. Grover of Freedom From Religion Foundation.

PRESS CONTACTS:

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATIONS:

Americans United for Separation of Church and State is a religious freedom advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, AU educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom. Learn more at www.au.org. 

The Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice is a 501(c)3 public interest law firm that fights for the rights and opportunities of every Oklahoman. 

Education Law Center (ELC) pursues justice and equity for public school students by enforcing their right to a high-quality education in safe, equitable, non-discriminatory, integrated, and well-funded learning environments. ELC seeks to support and improve public schools as the center of communities and the foundation of a multicultural and multiracial democratic society. Visit edlawcenter.org.

For more than 100 years, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has worked in courts, legislatures, and communities to protect the constitutional rights of all people. With a nationwide network of offices and millions of members and supporters, the ACLU takes on the toughest civil liberties fights in pursuit of liberty and justice for all.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to defending the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters relating to nontheism. With about 42,000 members, FFRF is the largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics and humanists) in North America. For more information, visit ffrf.org.

Related Stories:

Federal Court in Oklahoma Paves Way for Opening of Ben Gamla, Nation’s First Religious Public School, in Violation of State and Federal Constitutions

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Press Contact:
Sharon Krengel
Director of Policy, Strategic Partnerships and Communications
skrengel@edlawcenter.org
973-624-1815, x240