The Oklahoma Virtual Charter School Board voted to approve the nation’s first public Catholic charter school.It was a monumental decision that the nation was watching. In a historic 3-2 vote, the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board voted to approve the nation’s first religious charter school funded by public tax dollars.The vote has put Oklahoma in a spotlight no other state in the nation has been in before. The separation of church and state was blurred in Oklahoma.| MORE | Oklahoma board votes to approve application for nation's first publicly funded religious charter school"This pathway of teaching religion in a public school does, I think, put the first step in motion for the dam to be broken on separation of church and state," said Robert Franklin, the chair of the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board.The application came from the Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa to create St. Isidore of Seville Virtual Catholic Charter School.It was a weighty decision Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said is unconstitutional, calling the move disappointing by board members who violated their oath to follow state law. "The question was did we stay in accordance with the oath that we signed, which was to follow the state constitution and the answer for me. It was no, an absolute no. It doesn’t align with the state constitution, so we knew it was going to go to court," Franklin said.The president of the board was one of two who voted against the proposal."This has nothing to do with that belief of our friends and loved ones that are of the Catholic faith. This has everything to do with the design, the platform that did not align well, did not serve special education students effectively and potentially allowed for some discrimination to be in place that didn’t align with their core values. They wanted to push the matter to the supreme court so they could find this test case for the national scale to unfold," Franklin said.| MORE | OKC’s Catholic archdiocese asks to create virtual charter schoolGov. Kevin Stitt and state Superintendent Ryan Walters were among the Oklahomans who stand with the decision. Stitt called the move a win for religious liberty and education freedom for Oklahoma.Walters said this further empowers parents, allowing every Oklahoma parent to decide what’s best for their child. Now, a contract for the school must be formally approved at the next board meeting. If approved, the school would be set to open in the fall of 2024. Top HeadlinesPolice investigating possible murder-suicide linked with motorcycle crash along OKC interstateOHP: 20-year-old Oklahoma City man killed in motorcycle crash involving semitrailer in Lincoln CountyTwo arrested after over 100 animal carcasses found on Muskogee County propertyPolice respond after OKC resident finds believed artillery shell in gardenTwo dead after vehicle submerges into Lake of the Arbuckles off boat ramp