Minneapolis, USA - The Minnesota chapter of the ACLU has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against an Inver Grove Heights-based charter school for using taxpayer money to promote religion.
"Minnesotans are not interested in having their tax dollars go to fund sectarian schools," the ACLU's Chuck Samuelson said. "The money's going to the mosque. It's all the same thing, the school is the mosque which is the property owner," Samuelson said.
Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy is the first entity named in the suit. A communications firm hired by the school responded to the suit in a statement. "We are surprised by today's actions.
TiZA extended an invitation to the ACLU-MN to visit the school and discuss its concerns, but the ACLU-MN chose not to accept our invitation.
We are disappointed that the ACLU-MN chose litigation without proper investigation," the statement read.
KARE 11 talked to the school's executive director in May of 2008 after the Minnesota Department of Education announced the school's curriculum does not violate state law. "It vindicates our position that we have been running a quality charter school," Executive Director Asad Zaman said.
The ACLU alleges teachers illegally lead prayers; the school has said students lead any prayers. The school has also said some kids stay after school to attend a Muslim studies class which parents pay for.
The ACLU says the school endorses religious practices by using state funded buses for the kids, after they've attended those religious-based classes.
"The real client in this case is the first amendment," Samuelson said. He also says the school is set to receive $3.8 million in state funding for this current school year.
"We are also suing the Department of Education for failure to supervise," Samuelson added.
The Department released a statement today, saying, in part: "The Department is in the process of carefully reviewing the ACLU lawsuit and will thoroughly respond through the legal process.
In response to issues raised about the school over the past year, we are in the process of drafting legislation to address these concerns."