U.S. District Judge Alfred Bennett on Tuesday granted a temporary restraining order to a group of Muslim parents and Islamic private schools that sued state officials, according to the plaintiffs’ lead attorney, who said the order extends the application deadline for families until March 31.
There are two ongoing civil rights lawsuits asking federal courts to prevent the voucher program from discriminating on the basis of religion. Texas families now have at least another two weeks to apply for the state's new school voucher program after a federal judge in Houston ordered an extension on Tuesday — hours before the application window was set to close — according to the lead attorney for several of the plaintiffs who sued state officials over the exclusion of Islamic schools from the program.
U.S. District Judge Alfred Bennett ordered the deadline be extended from midnight Tuesday until March 31 amid an ongoing legal battle between Texas officials and a group of Muslim parents and Islamic private schools, said Eric Hudson, an attorney for the plaintiffs. Hudson said the judge also scheduled a permanent injunction hearing for April 24 and that the Texas comptroller's office, which is administering the, must ensure two Islamic schools — plaintiff Excellence Academy and the Houston Quran Academy in Katy, where another plaintiff's child goes to school — receive registration links to submit applications within 24 hours. Hudson said the plaintiffs' immediate goal was to make sure the application window didn't shut parents out from Texas Education Freedom Accounts as a lottery system is being implemented because demand for the program has extended state funding. The longer-term goal, Hudson said, is to ensure Islamic schools can participate along with other private and parochial schools in Texas. "The state has rigged the lottery," Hudson said."They’ve done it in a way to try to exclude Muslim parents so that when they run the lottery, they’re less likely to be in the lottery system."Muslim parents, private schools sue Texas over exclusion of Islamic institutions in voucher programAccording to Hudson, the comptroller's office was ordered to announce the change in the application period within 24 hours. There are two ongoing civil rights lawsuits, one filed by a Muslim parent and the other filed by multiple Muslim parents and a group of Islamic schools, asking federal courts to prevent the voucher program from discriminating on the basis of religion. The former suit names Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, acting Texas Comptroller Kelly Hancock and Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath as defendants, while the latter suit was filed against Hancock and Mary Katherine Stout, the manager of the Texas Education Freedom Accounts created last year by state lawmakers.The defendants are all being represented by attorneys in the Texas attorney general's office, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.More than 2,000 private institutions have been admitted to the voucher program, none of which are Islamic schools.in December over concerns that some applicant schools hosted events with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, and that others were accredited by Cognia, a private school accreditor that state officials allege has ties to the Chinese government. Gov. Greg Abbott in November declared CAIR to be a terrorist organization, promptingOn Jan. 24, Paxton issued an opinion, though not legally binding, supporting Hancock's concerns, but punted the responsibility to investigate schools and determine their eligibility back to the comptroller's office. Paxton added that Texans deserve assurances that no taxpayer dollars will be used, directly or indirectly, to support institutions with ties to those groups. "We appreciate the Attorney General's support of our full authority under state law to stop taxpayer dollars from being provided, directly or indirectly, to institutions tied to designated foreign terrorist organizations, criminal networks, or adversarial foreign governments," Hancock wrote in a statement posted to Facebook at the time."This opinion makes clear that Texas will not tolerate taxpayer funds being diverted to bad actors."
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Judge orders Texas to extend school voucher deadline in response to lawsuit from Islamic schoolsThe application period, set to close Tuesday night, must now remain open until March 31, according to an attorney representing Islamic schools.
Read more »
Judge orders Texas to extend school voucher deadline in response to lawsuit from Islamic sSAN ANTONIO - A Texas Judge has issued a preliminary injunction, extending the deadline to apply for the states school vucher program.In a court hearing on Tues
Read more »
Judge extends Texas school voucher application deadline after lawsuit over exclusion of Islamic schoolsA judge ruled Tuesday to extend the application deadline for the Texas school voucher program after four Muslim parents and three private schools sued Texas leaders, alleging Islamic private schools were excluded from participating in the state’s program.
Read more »
Judge orders Texas to extend school voucher deadline in response to lawsuit from Islamic schoolsA federal judge on Tuesday ordered Texas to extend the application deadline for private school vouchers until March 31 due to the state’s exclusion of Islamic schools from the program.
Read more »
Judge orders Texas to extend deadline on school voucher programA federal judge on Tuesday ordered the extension of the application deadline for Texas' school voucher program because of the state's exclusion of Islamic schools.
Read more »
Jace Yarbrough is GOP nominee in North Texas congressional district after second-place finisher bows outAfter finishing a distant second in the March 3 primary, Ryan Binkley dropped out of the runoff. Yarbrough is favored to win the general election for the redrawn 32nd District.
Read more »