Defend Minnesota Charter Schools Against Islamists!

Last fall, Islamist Watch wrote to the Minnesota Board of Education warning that some applicants who wish to sponsor charter schools in the state, like the Minnesota Education Trust (MET), have a religious agenda that violates the neutrality public schools must maintain before their student body with regard to religion.

The MET is suing the school board after it was rejected for attempting to promote Islam. Today's Star Tribune reports:

The Education Department denied the application because a new state law forbids religious groups from sponsoring charter schools, and MET has a "sectarian nature and mission," state Education Commissioner Alice Seagren said in a letter to the group last week.

Seagren's letter laid out a list of "entanglements" that she said MET has with the Muslim American Society of Minnesota. She also pointed out that several people who helped found the group have ties to Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TiZA), including the school's principals.

Even if the MET can argue its way out of such "entanglements," how can it take back its self-declared purpose on its 990 tax forms, which explicitly states that the MET's goal is to "promote the message of Islam to Muslims and non-Muslims and promote understanding between them, promote interfaith activities and dialogue, support schools, community centers, mosques, and other organizations that serve the goals of the organization"?

IW encourages all its readers to write letters to the Star Tribune and the Minnesota Board of Education, reminding them that it is illegal to use taxpayer money to promote any one faith in any public institution, including charter schools.

The Star Tribune can be reached at: Editorial Department, Star Tribune, 425 Portland Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55488. Submissions may be sent by fax to 612-673-4359 or by email at this link.

The Minnesota Department of Education can be reached at: 1500 Highway 36 West, Roseville, MN 55113. The phone number is 651-582-8200.

Source: Islamist Watch

MAS, TIZA and the Congressman

Congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN), a Muslim, traveled to Saudi Arabia to visit Mecca late last year to make the hajj pilgrimage as required under the tenets of Islam. This was a personal and private trip, Ellison claimed in a July 23rd letter to the Minnesota Star-Tribune. He reported to the House Ethics Committee that his trip to Mecca was funded by the Minnesota chapter of the Muslim American Society (MAS-MN), a non-profit organization.

Ellison's letter responded to a Star-Tribune report about the MAS-funding of his trip. The story also identified concern about how MAS-MN received "grants" totaling almost $900,000 from the MAS-MN Property Holding Corporation, a subordinate entity of MAS-MN. The holding corporation collected state rent money for the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA), a public charter school run by MAS-MN. The grants from the holding company to MAS-MN nearly equaled the amount it received in state rent money for 2006-07.

Taxpayer money did not finance his trip, Ellison said in his letter to the editor. The Star-Tribune cited a spokesman for TIZA who claimed MAS-MN stopped receiving Minnesota state rent money through its property holding corporation after 2007, and since Ellison made his trip to Mecca the end of 2008, no TIZA-related state money could have been involved in paying for Ellison's travel. Since 2008, the spokesman said, TIZA rent money from the state was paid to an entity called the Minnesota Education Trust.

Minnesota corporate records, however, show that Minnesota Education Trust is located at the same St. Paul address as the MAS-MN Property Holding Corporation. IRS non-profit tax returns for the Trust identified two organization officials. The president is listed as Asif Rahman. The other official is Asad Zaman.

The two men are listed in similar position on tax forms for the MAS-MN Property Holding Corporation. Zaman also is listed as the executive director for the TIZA charter school on its tax forms. On all those tax returns, TIZA claimed to have no affiliation with any other organizations. It also claimed none of its organization officials shared a relationship with officials in any other organization. Yet another TIZA board member, Hesham Hussein, is also a corporate official of the Muslim American Society in Minnesota. Rahman and Zaman are officials of the MAS-MN Property Holding Corporation and the Minnesota Education Trust. Rahman was previously identified as a local official of Islamic Relief, the charter school sponsor for TIZA. Read more ...

Source: IPT BlogKeith Ellison
MAS
TIZA
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Hell Freezes Over: ACLU to sue Islamist public school in Minnesota

By Randy Furst and Sarah Lemagie

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota said it will file suit today against a publicly funded charter school, alleging that it is promoting the Muslim religion and that it is leasing school space from a religious organization, the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, without following state law.

The suit was to be filed this afternoon in U.S. District Court against Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, known as TIZA, and the Minnesota Department of Education, which the ACLU says is at fault for failing to uncover and stop the alleged transgressions. The suit names the department and Alice Seagren, the state education commissioner, as co-defendants.

The department investigated the Twin Cities school last year, and the school said it had taken corrective actions in response to concerns about the practicing of religion in the school. TIZA officials have previously said they are in compliance with federal and state regulations.

In May, Asad Zaman, TIZA's director, said the state inquiry vindicated the school's position. Read more ...

Source: Star Tribune
H/T: Jihad WatchACLU
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