Federal Judge orders Texas to extend the application deadline for private school vouchers to March 31, according to a ruling issued Tuesday after a lawsuit challenged the state’s exclusion of Islamic schools from the program. The extension came in response to litigation filed earlier this month by four Muslim parents and three Islamic private schools, who argued that Texas leaders discriminated against their religion by keeping them out of the voucher program.
The original application window was set to close at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday for families seeking to use public funds to pay for private school or home-school during the 2026-27 academic year. As of Monday afternoon, Texas said more than 200,000 families had submitted applications for vouchers, surpassing the amount of state funding available for the program, which the state described as $1 billion. The comptroller’s office said more than 2,200 private schools had opted in to accept voucher students, and it said at least 71% of voucher applicants came from families whose children attended a private school or home-school during the 2024-25 academic year.
Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock, who oversees the voucher program as Texas’ chief financial officer, has prevented Islamic schools from participating, citing claims that some schools are associated with foreign terrorist organizations. Hancock has pointed to school accreditation by Cognia and alleged that Cognia-hosted events were organized by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR. The governor, Greg Abbott, recently designated CAIR a terrorist organization, according to the report, while the U.S. State Department has not designated CAIR as a terrorist group. The comptroller’s office did not immediately comment after the court order, the report said.
The court dispute centers on whether Texas discriminated when it blocked Islamic schools. A lawyer representing the plaintiffs confirmed the ruling to The Texas Tribune, which the Associated Press reported was the original publisher in the partnership that distributed the story.
For families who apply, Texas said the state will use a lottery to determine how it divides $1 billion among eligible students. Applicants will be considered in an order that the comptroller’s office outlined, starting with students with disabilities in families at or below 500% of the federal poverty level, followed by families at or below 200% of poverty, families between 200% and 500%, and then families at or above 500%, who would receive up to $200 million of the total budget. The report said parents do not need to have their children enrolled in a school until July 15, while private schools will confirm enrollment with the state by July 31.
Texas also described how much participating families could receive. It said most participating families with children in private schools receive about $10,500 annually, home-schoolers can receive up to $2,000 per year, and children with disabilities qualify for up to $30,000, an amount tied to what it would cost to educate the child in a public school. The report said the comptroller’s early data showed 35% of voucher applicants come from households at or below $66,000 per year for a family of four, 37% from households between $66,000 and $165,000, and 28% from households making more than $165,000.
Texas’ application data also addressed what students planned to do next year and where applicants lived. The report said nearly 80% of applicants plan to attend a private school, while the rest said they planned to home-school. It also said most families applied to receive vouchers for pre-K, though half of those applicants do not meet eligibility criteria. The report said it also received applications most frequently from the Houston region, followed by the Richardson, Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin regions.
The report further described concerns raised by families of children with disabilities during a short application window. It said confusion over voucher rules meant some families would not qualify for additional funding for students who need special education services because they did not know they needed a special education evaluation from a public school to qualify. The report said obtaining legal documentation proving the evaluation happened can take months, while the voucher application window lasted 41 calendar days. It added that the comptroller recently clarified its interpretation of the voucher law, saying it believes families of students with disabilities can still apply for the funding boost next year.