The case, which has been going on for more than two years, has drawn a lightning-storm of controversy that had Christian conservatives and church-state watchdogs fighting alongside one another.

In 2009, the ACLU of Minnesota filed suit against the Minnesota Department of Education, the school and the school’s sponsors.

The case made for strange bedfellows. Katherine Kersten, a conservative Christian columnist at the Star Tribune and longtime critic of Islam, first broke the news in early 2008 that the school might be breaking the law. She followed up with a report from a Republican activist who also happened to be a substitute teacher at the school.

The ACLU, an organization that Kersten has been sharply critical of, picked up on the story and launched an investigation and then a lawsuit.

On Thursday, the school’s sponsor, the Minnesota Department of Education and the ACLU reached a partial settlement in the case. Under the terms, the Minnesota Department of Education must require charter schools to sign an annual statement declaring under penalty of law that the schools are not promoting religion.

In addition, the parties to the case released a set of facts that demonstrate the entanglement of religion with state in the school, which was called Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA). It closed last year because it could not find a charter school sponsor.

The facts released in the case paint a portrait of a school using public money to advance a religious mission: the school illegally transferred money to its religious landlords, specifically an organization called Minnesota Education Trust whose mission is to “present the image of Islam.”

The school was marketed to Muslims as a school that followed Islamic law. Landlords for the school prohibited anything in the building that went against Islamic teaching. In its IRS tax filings, the school’s sponsor listed as its accomplishments that it created a “charter school to promote the message of Islam to Muslims and non-Muslims,” and numerous fundraising materials mentioned the school as part of promoting Islam in Minnesota.

When the Muslim American Society of Minnesota conducted after school religious trainings, the school gave the group free space, the school did not offer buses to students who did not want to attend the trainings, and even threatened to mark them absent if they didn’t attend. Many of the teachers at the school were the instructors for the after school courses and those who didn’t teach Islamic religious courses were not allowed to leave until the courses were ended for the day.

Textbooks used during class time to teach Arabic focused on the Quran.

Over $3 million in state and federal funds went to benefit two religious entities—the Minnesota chapter of the Muslim American Society and the Minnesota Education Trust—in the form of improvements to the TIZA campuses and rent payments. When those campuses were remodeled—in one case to install foot sinks for use in Islamic religious tradition—the landlords provided no financial support.

“The Court’s decision and our settlement with the Department of Education are bittersweet. We remain sad that TIZA’s administrators and supporters hunkered down for years rather than changing their practices to conform to the Constitution and Minnesota law,” Charles Samuelson, executive director of the ACLU-MN, said in a statement on Monday. “Sadly, this case highlights the problems that can arise from the lack of transparency in public charter school laws.”

The ACLU’s attorney’s say they asked for the release of the facts of the case because TIZA had repeatedly sought to keep them from public inspection.

“We are pleased with the court order because we have long believed that TIZA misused the court’s protective order to maintain the secrecy of documents that the public has a right to see, because they show how TIZA was using public funds,” said Peter Lancaster, an attorney with Dorsey and Whitney who worked on the case.

Elsewhere in Minnesota headlines this morning …

DULUTH: Rally rankles council members. A boxing promoter whose own supporter says is ”very, very agitated” led protesters from the City Hall steps to a council meeting room, demanding several city councilors resign or apologize for various alleged transgressions.  [Fox 21 News]

MINNEAPOLIS: …and He threw the money-collectors out. A federal court case will go nowhere after plaintiffs complaining about a collection agency’s use of the phrase “WWJD?” were revealed to be owners of a rival collection agency. [Associated Press]

INVER GROVE HEIGHTS: School sues ACLU back. The embattled TiZA charter school filed a countersuit against the state civil-liberties group, claiming defamation. [St. Paul Pioneer Press]

DANUBE: Bigger fish to fry? The police chief and his wife are charged with taking $4,650 from the fire department’s smelt-fry fund, although they put the money back. [West Central Tribune]

MINNEAPOLIS: Fine to laugh. Clubs needed a pricey license to stage stand-up comedy acts — until the city council amended its ways. [City Pages]

RED WING: This boot was made for exhibitin’. Parading four blocks to its new museum home was the world’s largest boot — the one Norm Coleman didn’t quite measure up to. At size 638 D, could it be a reincarnated governor? [Associated Press]

Lawyers for TIZA, Islamic Relief, and the education commissioner argued that ACLU-MN did not have the standing to sue, but U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank sided with ACLU-MN.

“[T]he challenged funding here is to a single charter school which, by the admission of Defendants, is attended by choice largely by Somali students who practice the Islamic Religion,” read the order on the motion to dismiss (pdf). “It seems unlikely that a parent or student of TIZA, who presumably attends the school because of its particularized program, would challenge the program of choice.”

The judge said that because ACLU-MN members are taxpayers, they have a stake in what happens to the funds given to TIZA.

“We are grateful that the judge held that we have standing in this case,” Chuck Samuelson, executive director of ACLU-MN, said Tuesday in a statement (pdf). “We believe that it is important to ensure that taxpayer funds are used appropriately. TIZA has received millions of dollars of taxpayer funds and we have the right to question how these public funds are being used.”

ACLU-MN investigated the allegations and in court documents filed in U.S. District Court said the Muslim organizations from which TIZA is leasing its space are illegally benefiting from the leasing arrangement.

According to the complaint, Asad Zaman serves as executive director, trustee and principal of TIZA and is also vice president of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, the religious organization that leases space to the school.

“He is thus subject to conflicts of interest resulting from his roles on behalf of both lessors and lessees with respect to the charter school,” the complaint asserts. “He has been quoted as stating that ‘Islam makes no distinction between public and private life.’”

The complaint lays out a number of other instances of entanglements between religious organizations and the school, improper prayer services, improper exposure of students to religious iconography and the posting of religious materials in public areas.

In addition, the complaint cites cases where Islamic religious traditions are alleged to be encoded in school policy. According to the complaint, the school handbook requires “girls in grades six through eight to wear a skirt or jumper with pants underneath or a ‘full-length dress (jilbaab)’” and states that female teachers must “be covered from neck to wrist and ankle.” Those rules do not apply to boys or male teachers.

The suit seeks a stop to state endorsement of TIZA and a refund of state monies received by the school. It also faults the Minnesota Department of Education for lack of oversight, especially in light of media reports about possible infractions.

“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,” Chuck Samuelson, executive director of ACLU-MN in a statement Wednesday. “However well-run and academically challenging a religious school may be, it is unconstitutional for public funds to be used for religious education.”

Strib HQ Photo: Paul Schmelzer

Strib Teamsters again reject concessions: The Teamsters press operators union at the Star Tribune has for the second time rejected contract concessions that would’ve cut their wages by 16 percent over the life of the agreement. Last month the union voted down a similar deal. At that time, two other Teamster locals at the Strib voted for the concessions, but due to an agreement struck between the three groups, a no-vote by any single local would kill the agreement for all. In an interesting twist, the Teamsters Joint Council is claiming they approved no such thing and that the contracts for Teamster drivers and mailers will stand. The pressmen’s givebacks would’ve meant the cutting of 60 of the 340 shifts per week, pay cuts of 10 percent for members and changes to overtime provisions, among others.

Funeraltweeting? Our sister site, the Colorado Independent, is outraged that The Rocky Mountain News used the microblogging tool Twitter to liveblog the funeral of a three-year old. My take: the form of Twitter itself — a 140-character limit, which often leads to abbreviated words — is too informal for such an affair. Plus, RMN didn’t bother to capitalize or punctuate its tweets, adding to the feeling that it was a glib endeavor.

Kersten’s idea of a “storm”: Conservative Star Tribune columnist Katherine Kersten is again tilting her rightward-bent lance at the majority-Muslim charter school TIZA, writing that a “storm is brewing” between the school and the Department of Education over the state’s concern about the school’s voluntary Friday prayer time. But David Brauer of MinnPost provides critical context that Kersten omitted, a letter a TIZA administrator sent to the state. While Kersten calls the note “defensive,” Brauer says “the letter patiently and respectfully makes it case, then offers to make the changes anyway.” He concludes that the paper has “occasionally provided supporting documentation for past Kersten columns, but it really needs to make that a habit when TIZA is involved.”

The Pulitzer Prize of YouTube: YouTube and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting are teaming up to award $10,000 to a videomaker covering under-reported stories of global importance. Begun Sept. 8, the contest will give its winner funds for travel, production aid from the Pulitzer Center, high-end equipment and distribution on YouTube.

She wrote a letter to the editor of the Star Tribune on Wednesday, calling for Kersten’s resignation, citing “reckless journalistic standards” and “gross misrepresentation of the facts.” Her letter was picked up on Thursday by Power Line’s Scott Johnson, a friend of Kersten’s, who says publication of the letter is an “act of thuggery” by Greiling and the paper. I caught up with Greiling on Thursday to ask her about the letter, get her response to Johnson’s remarks and hear about her experiences as TIZA. She said she spoke up not only because she feels Kersten’s article was incorrect, but because she was amazed by the quality of the school. “I saw such well-scrubbed, beaming students,” she said. “It was just such an impressive school…. a school to be emulated, not hated. She’s been a thug herself, as far as I’m concerned.”

Listen: Rep. Mindy Greiling on Katherine Kersten’s TIZA column (8:23)


Read Greiling’s letter after the jump. 

Earlier: Kersten column on Muslim school followed by threats, police patrols

In response to questions prompted by Katherine Kersen’s recent columns on Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA), I decided to visit the school myself.

What I learned during a tour late last month is that none of Kersten’s concerns that the charter school is promoting religion in violation of a state law that prohibits public schools from doing so is valid.

What I did see was excellent teachers hard at work in the classroom focused on improving student achievement. I saw engaged students of different religious and cultural backgrounds learning reading, math, government and science. I spoke with parents, teachers and administrators who all stressed their high standards for TIZA students.

While an outsider, or someone like Kersten who is trying to validate a predetermined conclusion, might be tempted to brand Tarek ibn Ziyad as an “Islamic School” because it leases space from the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, the school, like other charter schools in Minnesota that lease space from churches, is a separate entity. It does comply with federal law that requires all schools to accommodate a student’s right to practice his or her religion. And unlike other charter schools that have faced financial and other administrative challenges, the school was recognized with a 2008 School Finance Award from the Minnesota Department of Education for its “sound fiscal health and financial management policies.”

Kersten’s reckless journalistic standards have diminished this paper’s credibility. Worse, they have threatened the safety of the children and staff at the school, which has been forced to take extra security measures in the wake of recent death threats. While I value a broad range of opinions from a variety of perspectives, I value the facts even more. Kersten’s gross distortion of the facts in this case should compel Star Tribune management to ask for her resignation.