ACLU Files Complaint Against TiZA

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota filed a lawsuit today in Federal District Court against Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA) and the Minnesota Department of Education stating that the charter school has violated the Establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution by using taxpayer money to illegally promote religion. The Minnesota Department of Education was named as a co-defendant because it has failed to provide proper oversight by disbursing taxpayer funds despite TIZA using such public funds for religious promotion.

TIZA is a charter school organized under Minnesota law as a non-profit corporation, sponsored by Islamic Relief USA with campuses in Inver Grove Heights and Blaine. TIZA is supported by tax funds from both the State of Minnesota and the United States Government. The Minnesota Department of Education is charged with approval and oversight of charter schools and with certification of schools' entitlement to state funding. The Commissioner has certified funds for TIZA despite its constitutional violations.

TIZA operations are problematic for a number of reasons including:

• TIZA leases both of its campuses from religious groups;

• TIZA and the Muslim American Society of Minnesota (MAS-MN) and TIZA's landlords are linked by a complex, interconnecting set of personal and corporate relationships. The leadership and operations of TIZA and MAS-MN have always been overlapping and MAS-MN officials function in prominent leadership positions at TIZA.

• TIZA has been shown to advance, endorse and prefer the Muslim religion over other religions or nonsectarian approaches in connection with school activities.

"The lack of government oversight is a matter of grave concern, because the Minnesota Department of Education gives over $30 million annually in rent subsidies to charter schools and due to the agency's lack of supervision, we have no way of knowing how much taxpayers are subsidizing religious organizations," said Chuck Samuelson, Executive Director of ACLU-MN. "However well-run and academically challenging a religious school may be, it is unconstitutional for public funds to be used for religious education."

Also named as defendants in the case are Islamic Relief USA based in California, the Minnesota Commissioner of Education, and individual TIZA Board members. The complaint was filed by ACLU-MN cooperating attorneys Peter Lancaster and Megan McKenzie from Dorsey and Whitney.

Read the TiZA complaint here.