Mazzei Minute 03/28/25

Attorney General of Oklahoma Gentner Drummond versus President Donald J. Trump in the United States Supreme Court. I’m going with Trump, and I’m sure most Oklahomans agree. 

The standard school system is failing our teachers and kids. Education bureaucrats, trained in the ways of wokeism, are to blame for the fact that only 20% of 8th graders can read proficiently.

Teachers don’t get the discipline support or the proper curriculum they need in the classroom to help our kids master reading, math and civics. Until we get major education transformation, parents need school freedom - the freedom to go to the school that will meet the child’s need. . 

Drummond aims to shut down a significant pathway for more school options because it is being provided by a religious institution. But fortunately, the Trump Department of Justice is pushing back.

Drummond believes that St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School is a public school and cannot receive education funding from the state of Oklahoma because it is a religious entity. He conveniently forgets that the Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship Program has enabled tax dollars for more than a decade to go to all sorts of religious schools to better help eligible students with disabilities.

Taking the side of St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, Acting Solicitor General of the U.S. from President Trump’s Department of Justice, argues appropriately “…some charter schools retain Free Exercise rights…And because charters like St. Isidore possess Free Exercise rights, States like Oklahoma cannot exclude them from generally available public programs simply for being religious.”

To make matters worse, Big Government Gentner is paying a high-powered Washington D.C. law firm a minimum of $250,000 to argue his case before the Supreme Court. Why should Oklahoma taxpayers pay elite attorneys to restrict more education freedom for Oklahoma parents? 

Drummond has hired scores of more attorneys lately with his huge spending increases. Neither he nor his attorneys believe that they are capable of going against Trump’s DOJ Solicitor General. I agree.