Texas accepted some Islamic private schools into its statewide voucher program after lawsuits prompted federal court action, according to Associated Press reporting published March 20.
The change came as two federal cases brought by Muslim parents and Islamic school operators—both challenging Texas’ decision-making for voucher eligibility—were consolidated and argued. The lawsuits asked a judge to stop the private school voucher program from discriminating based on religion, and they sought court intervention before the program’s original family application deadline.
In the consolidated cases, plaintiffs pointed to how the program had been operating for certain Islamic schools. They said Texas leaders excluded Islamic schools from voucher eligibility while accepting hundreds of other non-Islamic schools, and they argued that the state used categorical presumptions tied to religious identity or community associations rather than individualized findings tied to unlawful conduct.
Federal Judge Alfred Bennett issued an order that extended the voucher application deadline to March 31 and required the state to consider the Islamic schools’ request to join the program. The judge also set the next hearing for April 24. The order did not require Texas to approve the plaintiffs’ schools outright; it instead constrained how the state could handle the program during the extended period.
The litigation began with two separate filings. One suit, filed March 1 by a parent acting on behalf of two children attending a Houston private school, named Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock and Education Commissioner Mike Morath as defendants. A second suit filed March 11 by three parents and three Islamic private school providers named Hancock and Mary Katherine Stout, the voucher program director, as defendants; the cases were later consolidated.
Texas officials’ actions were tied to the comptroller’s office overseeing parts of the voucher program’s school eligibility process. Late in 2025, Hancock’s office requested a legal opinion from Paxton about whether schools could be excluded based on connections to groups designated as foreign terrorist organizations or foreign adversaries. In court, the state’s position relied on the idea that its review and exclusions for some schools were consistent with that legal interpretation.
According to the reporting, Paxton issued an opinion in January stating his view that the comptroller had authority to block schools he believed were “illegally tied to terrorists or foreign adversaries.” Before the lawsuits, no Islamic schools were known to have been accepted into Texas’ voucher program.
The court filings described the blocking as reaching schools accredited by Cognia, with plaintiffs saying the criteria operated in ways that singled out Islamic institutions. One of the parents, Mehdi Cherkaoui, said in the lawsuit filings that Texas leaders had “systematically targeted Islamic schools for exclusion,” and he argued the state was not making individualized findings of unlawful conduct by any specific school.
Cherkaoui’s suit, according to the reporting, sought relief so he and other families could apply for voucher funding to offset tuition costs. The lawsuit said Cherkaoui pays almost $18,000 per year for his children’s tuition at the Houston private school and wanted to apply for nearly $10,500 per child in voucher funding. The lawsuit said Islamic schools blocked from participating prevented the application process from being completed.
In the second suit, plaintiffs included Islamic schools and parents with children in private schools part of the case. The reporting said the plaintiffs in that case included Bayaan Academy and the Islamic Services Foundation, including Little Horizons Academy and Brighter Horizons Academy, along with The Eagle Institute (Excellence Academy). Parents listed as plaintiffs were Layla Daoudi, Muna Hamadah and Farhana Querishi.
The state argued in court filings that the exclusions would not cause immediate harm because families did not have to select a school until July 15. Paxton’s office said in a filing that the comptroller’s office had not “denied” any private schools from participating until that later deadline, and it argued Cognia-accredited schools required independent review because the company “erroneously” listed schools as accredited without completing final steps.
A March 17 order from Bennett also prevented Texas from considering which families would receive voucher funding until after March 31, though Bennett could extend that period. The order required Texas to update the voucher application website to reflect the new deadline and provide the schools that sued an opportunity to register for the program. It did not require Texas to add them to the approved list.
After Bennett’s order, the comptroller’s office said March 19 that it accepted into the voucher program the schools that sued and a parent named in the lawsuit. Comptroller spokesperson Travis Pillow said the process to review and add more schools was continuing.
Texas Republicans enacted the voucher program through Senate Bill 2 in 2025, and the program allows families to use public funds for private school or home-school education. Between Feb. 4 and March 31, families can apply to participate, and a lottery determines who can receive funding pending acceptance at a private school.
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