The legislation includes new pots of money for teacher raises and other school costs like insurance and transportation. It now heads to the House, where leaders say it will pass.

The state of Oklahoma may not direct public state funding to what was set to be the nation's first religious charter school after the US Supreme Court deadlocked over the case.

The Supreme Court deadlocked Thursday over the constitutionality of the nation’s first public religious charter school, blocking the creation of the controversial Catholic online academy in Oklahoma....

Opponents warned that allowing it would blur the separation between church and state, sap money from public schools and possibly upend the rules governing charter schools in almost every state.