Kansas City, Mo. ? A Kansas charter school that purchases books with such titles as “Children’s Bible Handbook” and “Exploring God’s World: Science” for students who rarely set foot in a school building is under fire from both the state and civil liberties groups.

The civil liberties groups say using taxpayer money to buy religious materials for students at the Mid-Kansas Independent Academy is an obvious violation of the constitutional separation of church and state. The two-year-old correspondence charter school serves home-schooled students from across the state.

“This is actually possibly the most blatant example of an unconstitutional use of taxpayer dollars being used to buy religious materials I’ve seen in decades,” said Barry W. Lynn, executive director of the Washington, D.C.,-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

The Kansas Department of Education said that’s merely a side issue. Citing concerns with the curriculum and the limited amount of contact teachers have with students, the education department is fighting to stop funding the school.

In turn, the Moundridge district, located about 35 miles north of Wichita, is suing the state in an effort to keep the roughly $1 million it would lose if state funding for the charter school the district operates is taken away.

Supt. Rustin Clark said the district carefully screens requests for instructional materials and only buys items that meet an educational need.

“Our point is if someone feels they would best learn … with a certain textbook, who publishes that textbook shouldn’t matter,” he said.

“If we allow people to use curriculums they feel are best for their learning style but we don’t allow them to use materials from certain publishers because they are faith-based publishers, we are discriminating.”

During a mediation session Monday in Topeka, no agreements were reached between the district and the state.

Charter schools are publicly financed and exempt from many rules and regulations, which advocates say encourages educational innovation. Several other charter schools in Kansas serve home-schooled students, providing online curriculum. Teachers and students use e-mail to correspond.

But Rod Bieker, chief attorney for the education department, has said the Moundridge charter school is different because it provides few services to students.

The academy’s teachers mail suggested activities and textbook readings to students, but families can request the district purchase alternative materials.

Students gain credit for mastering a skill by mailing an assignment of their choosing to teachers, who evaluate the work and decide if the student has learned the skill.

Dick Kurtenbach, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and Western Missouri, said the district’s purchase of religious instructional materials violates the First Amendment.

“The fundamental principle of law is that public schools must be neutral on matters of religion,” he said. He also noted the instructional materials appear to promote the Christian faith.

David N. Harger, an attorney for the school district, did not return calls to his office Monday and Tuesday.

A California charter school that offers online classes as one of several nontraditional options for students ran into similar problems as those at Moundridge.

After concerns were raised at Horizon Instructional Systems, based in Lincoln, Calif., about the school’s purchase of religious materials, school officials created a list of preapproved materials from which students could choose.

“Charter schools are public schools and have to apply to the same sectarian tenets as public schools,” said Dave Patterson, director of governmental relations for the California Network of Educational Charters. “The lesson learned in California is when ordering instructional material, you need to make sure it meets that requirement.”