Your tax dollars:
It is getting downright vicious out there in Minneapolis where the ACLU sued the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TiZA), a Muslim charter school, over its religious teaching while it was using taxpayer money. Think about it, the liberal ACLU is watching out for the taxpayer more carefully than some faux conservative tax crusaders we know.
Now the plot thickens as TIZA is counter suing the ACLU. From the Minneapolis Star Tribune:
An Inver Grove Heights charter school accused of crossing the line between religion and public education is fighting back against the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota.
Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TiZA) says the ACLU, which sued the academy in January, defamed the school and hurt its ability to hire qualified teachers, according to counterclaims filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis.
In its suit, the ACLU alleged that the public school promotes the Muslim religion, violating the Constitution’s First Amendment.
The K-8 school has denied the allegations and said in court documents that Charles Samuelson, executive director of the Minnesota ACLU, injured the school’s reputation by saying publicly that TiZA is “a theocratic school … as plain as the substantial nose on my face.”
The State Department of Education is also in on the act, threatening to withhold funds because of teacher licensing problems. However, what interested me most in this paragraph from near the end of the story is, where are all these federal grants coming from?
As a result of the Education Department’s decision, which TiZA is appealing, state officials told the school last month that it would lose about $530,000 in state aid. The Education Department also withheld federal grants that had been awarded to the school. TiZA spokesmen have said the grants total close to $875,000.
Are other Islamic schools in the US getting federal grants?
More on TIZA last week, here.