Texas Islamic schools sue comptroller over exclusion from voucher program

DALLAS - Three private schools are suing the Texas leaders in charge of overseeing the state's school voucher program for excluding Islamic schools from being a part of the program.

The lawsuit, which names three schools and three parents, is the second federal lawsuit filed this month claiming the program is blocking which institutions can be involved in the program on the basis of religion. The latest lawsuit comes from schools in Dallas, Collin and Galveston counties and three parents. The suit names acting comptroller Kelly Hancock and Mary Katherine Stout, who oversees the program.

Court filings claim the schools applied for the Texas Education Freedom Account program, met all the requirements and were not approved for the program. One school, Bayaan Academy, claims it was approved by the agency in January and later removed. Islamic Service Foundation is claiming they submitted applications for both schools they operate and have not received an update on their status. The third school, The Eagle Institute, is claiming they were unable to start the pre-approval process.

"The Constitution does not permit the State to open a public benefit program to private schools and then close the door when Muslim schools seek to enter," court documents state. "Government may not deny a generally available benefit because of a school’s religious character, because of the faith it teaches, or because public officials disfavor the religious community seeking equal treatment."

The lawsuit claims the schools are being shut out of the TEFA program because of their religious affiliation.

"Defendants have refused to let K through 12 Islamic schools through the door to TEFA participation, while holding the door open to thousands of other similarly situated private schools across Texas," attorneys said.

Gov. Greg Abbott responded to reports of Islamic schools being shut out of the program on social media Thursday saying he doesn't want funds going to "radical Islamic indoctrination."

"We don’t want school choice funds going to radical Islamic indoctrination with historic connections to terrorism. I signed laws banning Sharia cities," Abbott said. "I designated CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations and transnational criminal organizations. And I will pass another law that completely bans Sharia Law in Texas."

Court documents state the three schools named in the lawsuit all have director boards that are made up of American citizens in Texas. Two of the three schools are accredited by Cognia, a school accreditation agency that is approved by the Texas Education Association and Texas Private School Accreditation Commission. Cognia also issues accreditation for other schools connected to other religions. 

The filing comes less than a week before student applications for the upcoming school year are cut off. The parents named in the lawsuit want to apply for the program for their children, but say they are unable to because the schools of their choice have not been accepted into the program.

The schools and parents are asking the court to pause the March 17 deadline for enrolling in the program while the case is considered.

Parent names Hancock, Paxton, head of TEA in lawsuit seeking to pause deadline

In a lawsuit filed earlier this month, Mehdi Cherkaoui claims the school where his two children attend, Houston Qur'an Academy Spring, is being blocked from the state program because of its "Islamic religious identity" and Hancock's "impermissible religious gerrymanders." The filing goes on to say the school meets the neutral requirements for inclusion in the voucher program.

The lawsuit claims the comptroller is using Gov. Greg Abbott's designation of the Council on American-Islamic Relations as a terrorist organization and a school having "Islamic ties" to deny the entry of any Islamic school to the Texas Education Freedom Accounts program.

What they're saying:

"HQA Spring has hosted or permitted use of its facilities for community events, including educational ‘Know Your Rights’ presentations open to parents and students regarding civil rights and legal protections available under U.S. law—the type of civic engagement and community service routinely hosted by religious institutions of all denominations," the lawsuit states.

Court documents state that no Islamic school had been approved as a school for the voucher program when the application process opened for parents on Feb. 4.

"The exclusion is not based on individualized findings of unlawful conduct by any specific school, but rather on categorical presumptions that Islamic schools are suspect and potentially linked to terrorism by virtue of their religious identity and community associations," court documents state.

Cherkaoui said he pays $17,910 per year for his children to attend the school and that his children's tuition would be covered if the school was accepted into the program, and he were eligible for the voucher program.

He's asking the court to order that the school's application to TEFA be processed "under the same neutral, non-discriminatory standards applied to non-Islamic private schools."

Texas lawmakers accuse comptroller of excluding Islamic schools

The lawsuit comes after Texas Democrats sent a letter to Hancock accusing the acting comptroller of using blanket exclusion to block Islamic schools from joining the program.

Hancock had previously asked Attorney General Ken Paxton for a legal opinion on the agency's authority to determine the eligibility of certain private schools in the program.

"The people of Texas deserve the highest assurance that no taxpayer dollars will be used, directly or indirectly, to support institutions with ties to a foreign terrorist organization, a transnational criminal network, or any adversarial foreign government," the request said.

In January, Paxton issued an opinion stating the Comptroller's Office has the full authority to prohibit schools under the "other relevant law[s]" provision of Senate Bill 2.

"Let me be crystal clear: Texans’ tax dollars should never fund Islamic terrorists or America’s enemies," Paxton said of the opinion. "The Comptroller’s Office has always possessed exclusive authority under the TEFA framework to stop any school illegally tied to terrorists or foreign adversaries from accessing taxpayer dollars, and this opinion affirms that authority. There is no question that the Comptroller’s Office is statutorily charged with ensuring that our school choice program is protected from abuse by terrorists or the Chinese Communist Party."

While the attorney general's opinions are not legally binding, they are used as guidance by state agencies.

Paxton's opinion came in response to Hancock's question over whether schools that had hosted events for the Council on American-Islamic Relations or had alleged ties to the Chinese government could be banned from the program.

Governor Greg Abbott designated CAIR as a terrorist organization in November. The group has since filed a lawsuit claiming the proclamation is based on "defamatory" and "provably false statements."

Lawmakers said multiple Islamic schools have been denied or removed from TEFA eligibility "despite having no affiliation with CAIR or any designated organization cited in generalized alligations."

School choice in Texas

The Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 2 in April, carving out $1 billion for the program in its first year.

Most parents who qualify can receive up to nearly $10,500 each year in public money for their child to go to private school.

The program will be capped at 90,000 students statewide. The education savings accounts will be given on a priority scale, so lower-income households and students with special needs will get priority first for the funds. 

Applications for students opened on Feb. 4. According to the Comptroller's Office, more than 100,000 students applied in the first two weeks.