Since the American Civil Liberties Union sued Tarek ibn Ziyand Academy in early 2009, the ACLU has examined all of the approximately 140 charter schools in the state, executive director Chuck Samuelson said.

The group has identified 12 to 15 other charter schools that "we are looking at with the eye toward possible violation of the First Amendment," Samuelson said Monday. The amendment addresses separation of church and state.

He would not name the schools but said none of them had "as extensive a history" as TiZA.

Ideally, Samuelson said, a federal judge eventually would rule against TiZA and set precedents for charter schools.

The judge would say, "you cannot do A, B or C, because that violates the Constitution. We will be able to, forever, go to the charter school community saying here's a hard and fast rule that you can't do A, B or C. And we won't have to go through this exercise 12 or 15 or 20 times," Samuelson said.

But that ruling may never come.

Both the charter school's former head and its attorney, as well as attorneys for the ACLU, doubt the trial, scheduled for