TiZA: The Mother of All Charter Religious-Public Schools

Charter schools are public schools run by private organizations with public funds.

While many have been started by religious groups, they are bound to US rules that public schools must accommodate the religious needs of their students but are not allowed to promote religious views or lead prayer services.

The brewing controversy came to head in recent days when a substitute teacher at Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, a suburban Minneapolis charter school run by an Islamic charity, said she saw students "corralled" into involuntary prayer services, and a local television station criticized the school for failing to fly a US flag.