Attorney General Ken Paxton informed Kelly Hancock on Thursday the attorney general’s office would no longer represent the comptroller in an ongoing federal...
The ongoing federal lawsuit is over access Muslim schools have to the Texas Education Freedom Accounts program, the state’s new education savings account system.Attorney General Ken Paxton said Thursday that attorney general’s office would no longer represent the comptroller in an ongoing federal lawsuit regarding access Muslim schools have to the state’s new education savings account system.
AUSTIN — Attorney General Ken Paxton informed Kelly Hancock on Thursday the attorney general’s office would no longer represent the comptroller in an ongoing federal lawsuit regarding access Muslim schools have to the state’s new education savings account system. The letter came less than two days after Hancock wrote to Paxton knocking the attorney general for how the agency allowed a Houston Muslim school into the Texas Education Freedom Accounts program.Attorney General Ken Paxton calls on Gov. Greg Abbott to remove acting comptroller The comptroller’s office and the governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday’s letter. Two federal lawsuits, one by a Houston parent and another by a group of schools and parents, were filed against the state over thefrom the TEFA program. The comptroller is overseeing the new education savings account program signed into law by Abbott last year.Those lawsuits were consolidated March 17 in the southern district of Texas. Last week, a federal court ordered the state to allow Muslim schools to enter TEFA.and is supposed to defend challenges to state laws, state agencies and individual state employees in their official capacity. However, Paxton has refused to defend state agencies in the past. In a court filing Thursday afternoon, three attorneys with the Office of the Attorney General filed a motion to withdraw as counsel in the case, characterizing Hancock’s letter as a political attack “designed for embarrassment and shock value.” The attorneys accuse the comptroller of violating client-attorney trust and misrepresenting the attorneys’ work to the public. Maria Kari, an attorney who is on the legal team representing the parents and schools in the lawsuit said Thursday they are evaluating the appropriate legal response.The bad blood between Hancock and Paxton stretches back to 2023, when Hancock was one of the Republican senators whoProtest safety 101: How to be safe while taking part in a protestDan Patrick’s meanness to Taylor Rehmet is exhausting politicsAarón is an Austin native who previously covered local government for The Kansas City Star and high school sports for the Knoxville News Sentinel. He is a University of Texas graduate, and Spanish is his first language.Isabella Volmert reports on faith for The Dallas Morning News. Previously, she covered state government and politics for the Associated Press in Indianapolis and Lansing, Mich. She is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame.Silas is the K-12 reporter for The Dallas Morning News' Education Lab. He previously covered Tarrant County schools for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and worked as news editor at the Dallas Observer. Before coming to Texas, he worked as a reporter and editor at The Oklahoman. He is a Missouri native and a graduate of the University of Missouri.
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