The proposed Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School would be operated by the Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation, founded by former Florida congressman Peter Deutsch. Friday’s meeting will be the board’s third consideration of the application.

Board attorney A.J. Ferate said plans for another vote began soon after the board rejected the application on Oct. 12. He said the board needed a quorum of five members to reach a final decision under state law. The Oct. 12 vote was 4-3 in favor of approval, but one member was absent and the board has a vacancy, leaving the application short of the required number.

Ferate said the decision to schedule another vote was not prompted by an Oct. 20 open letter from Deutsch, who threatened legal action if the board again rejected the proposal.

The application has moved through a shifting legal landscape. In March, the board denied it, citing an Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling that found a proposed publicly funded Catholic virtual charter school, St. Isidore, unconstitutional under the state’s Charter Schools Act. The law bars religious organizations from opening public charter schools on a religious basis. The U.S. Supreme Court later left that ruling in place after a tie vote.

Deutsch and the foundation sued the Oklahoma board in federal court, arguing that the rejection violated their First Amendment right to religious exercise. In September, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction, ruling that the application could not be denied solely because the school is religious.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond also sued the charter board in March. He argued that the application had other significant shortcomings, including changing enrollment projections and limited community support, and that the board had improperly focused on the school’s religious character when it rejected the proposal.

Drummond said in an Oct. 15 statement that his lawsuit was no longer necessary after the board’s Oct. 12 vote. “From day one, this case was about making a state agency tell the whole truth about why it rejected a deeply flawed application,” he said. He also said any new application would have to begin again and could seek approval only for a later school year. The dismissal of his suit was without prejudice, leaving open the possibility of further legal action.

If approved, Ben Gamla would be the nation’s first taxpayer-funded religious charter school, placing Oklahoma at the center of a continuing dispute over religious freedom, public education and the limits on using public money for religious instruction.