OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — A federal judge on Thursday cleared the way for the nation’s first taxpayer-funded religious charter school, a first-of-its-kind institution that, in the court’s own language, the state “cannot prevent” from operating, which is the legal way of saying the state has been informed, in writing, by a judge, that the word the state had been using on the subject is no longer, in the specific, the state’s word.

The ruling, in a case that could eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court, cleared a Jewish organization to establish the school with public funds, a combination the education industry has described for some time as a door that was, in the specific, closed, and that the court has now, in the specific, opened, and through which, in the specific, is walking the entire concept of a charter school, and the concept of a congregation, and the two of them, in the specific, walking toward the same hallway.

The state’s case rested, in its own filings, on a word the government has used for most of the last century: separation. Separation of church and state, which is the word the government uses for the reason the government does not, in the specific, fund the church, and the church does not, in the specific, fund the government, and the two of them stand, in the specific, in a room that has a door between them, and the door is, in the specific, the whole of the word.

"The word 'separation' has a door in it. The court has not removed the door. The court has, in the specific, moved the door to the other wall, and the other wall is the one that faces the taxpayers." That line is from Dr. Alan Pryce, a constitutional-law professor at a law school he described as "well known in the state of Texas," who said he has written two books on the subject and that both of them are, in the specific, about to be out of print. "Both editions assume the door stays where the door is," Dr. Pryce said. "The ruling does not take the door off the building. It moves the door to a wall that faces the public, and the public, on the record, is the one paying the bill for the wall, and the public, on the record, is the one now in the room." For the organization, the ruling restores a status it describes as religious freedom and that the state describes as separation, which is why, when officials began working out the logistics of a public-funded religious classroom, the question on everyone's mind was not whether the school would open but whether the school's budget line would read "taxpayer," and whether the taxpayer would read it back. A state official, asked about the funding, said the state was "reviewing the decision" and "considering all options," a phrase that in this branch of government has the operational specificity of "the door is moving and we have not yet decided which wall."

TAXPAYER-FUNDED RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS: A FIELD GUIDE

  • The door: Separation of church and state. The court has, in the specific, relocated the door to the taxpayer-facing wall. The wall has, on the record, a bill.
  • The school: A charter school, the word the public uses for a school the government allows but does not run. A religious school, the word the public uses for a school the government was told not to allow. The two words, in the specific, share a hallway.
  • The first: First of its kind. The phrase, in the specific, is a door that is also the whole of the building. There is no second one to compare it to, which is, on the record, the entire point of the phrase.
  • The appeal: The state said it is "considering all options." The options, in the specific, include a wall.
The school, in its own description, is a place where students are, in the specific, students, and where a religion is, in the specific, a religion, and where the public is, in the specific, the reason the building is, in the specific, standing, which is the three-part description a school gives when the description is also a budget. At press time, the case was cleared for operation, the state was, on the record, reviewing the decision, and the first class had, in the specific, not yet been scheduled, which is the word the school uses for the students who will, on the record, attend, and the word the taxpayers use for the bill that, in the specific, will.