Sean Murphy

The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday stopped what would have been the first publicly funded religious charter school in the U.S., turning back conservatives and the state's GOP governor who have welcomed religious groups into public education.

Oklahoma's Republican Attorney General Gentner Drummond on Oct. 20 sued to stop a state board from establishing and funding what would be the nation's first religious public charter school after the board ignored Drummond's warning that it would violate both the state and U.S. constitutions.

A state school board in Oklahoma voted June 5 to approve what would be the first publicly funded religious school in the nation, despite a warning from the state's attorney general that the decision was unconstitutional.

Separate internal audits of the Roman Catholic dioceses in Oklahoma City and Tulsa have identified nearly two dozen clerics for whom investigators found substantiated allegations of sexual abuse of children.