Last week, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) issued an evenly-split decision regarding the creation of religious charter schools. The case was initiated by St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, which had been approved by the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board to become a charter school; but that approval was overridden by the Oklahoma Supreme Court because the school is religious. The school challenged the Court’s decision to deny its participation in the program on the basis of its religious basis. SCOTUS’ evenly-split decision was due to the fact that Justice Amy Coney Barrett had recused herself from the case due to a conflict of interest. The case now goes back to the Oklahoma Supreme Court, whose previous opinion stands, since SCOTUS did not overturn it. Learn more by reading the full article: https://ncfamily.org/scotus-divided-on-religious-charter-schools/ (fb)

This week, the NC House of Representatives adopted a fiscally prudent, conservative, pro-family budget with broad bipartisan support. The chamber’s version of the state budget bill, SB 257—2025 Appropriations Act would appropriate $32.58 billion in the 2025-2026 fiscal year and $33.3 billion in the 2026-2027 fiscal year, and it contains a myriad of pro-family measures. The full NC House gave approval to the proposed 523-page spending plan on Thursday by a strong bipartisan vote of 86-20. The bill now returns to the State Senate for further consideration. Learn more here: https://ncfamily.org/nc-house-approves-fiscally-prudent-conservative-pro-family-budget/ (fb)