A Valley charter school with ties to a member of the Arizona Board of Education is being accused of illegally teaching religion.
The dispute involves the Heritage Academy, which has three campuses in metro Phoenix. Under Arizona law, charter schools are public schools. They get state aid and cannot charge tuition. And while exempt from many state regulations, there are statutes and constitutional provisions that prohibit using state dollars for religious instruction.
Attorney Richard Katskee of Americans United for Separation of Church and State said it's OK to teach a course on comparative religions or even the role that religion has played in American history.
"What's going on here is really teaching religious precepts, teaching that the students should obey God's laws, that the country is built on God's laws and that if you don't uphold God's laws that's why the country has gone to, well, you can guess where," said Katskee.
In the lawsuit filed Wednesday, Katskee wants a federal judge to rule that if the school wants to continue teaching religion it has to give up its state tax dollars.
The school was founded and is run by Earl Taylor Jr. His son, Jared, is a member of the academy board, was one of Gov. Doug Ducey's first appointees to the Board of Education.
Neither Taylor nor the governor would comment on the lawsuit.