The suit appears to be the first legal challenge to the voucher program that GOP lawmakers pitched last year as a way to help families afford private education.
Do you know who and what you’re voting for? We can help you create a customized ballot to take with you to the pollsThe plaintiff, Mehdi Cherkaoui, alleges the state has “systematically targeted Islamic schools for exclusion” from the $1 billion tuition support program, preventing Muslim families from applying and using the state money at a school of their choice.
The continued freeze on at least two dozen Islamic schools started in December, when acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock, whose office oversees the program, sought legal approval to block what he says are foreign terrorism-linked schools from accessing the program.Program leaders have confirmed an ongoing “due-diligence review” of some schools but have not provided details on how the review is being conducted or evidence for why specific schools have been blocked. Hancock confirmed at an event over the weekend that the review remains ongoing.Cherkaoui’s two children attend Houston Qur’an Academy Spring, an Islamic K–12 school in Harris County that he says meets every statutory requirement for participation and has no ties to terrorist organizations. That school’s administrators previously confirmed that they were interested in the program but had not been approved to join. “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,” Cherkaoui writes in the lawsuit.received no information from the state Cherkaoui’s suit, filed in federal court, asks for a judge to immediately order Hancock’s office to begin processing the school’s bid to join the voucher program, noting that the application period for families closes on March 17. Hancock, Attorney General Ken Paxton, and Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath are named as defendants, though the program is primarily run by Hancock’s office, with Cherkaoui describing Hancock’s actions as “impermissible religious gerrymanders.”last month confirming Hancock’s statutory authority to block certain schools from the program. Morath’s agency does not oversee the voucher program but does play a role in determining which private school accreditations are recognized by the state. None of the three agencies immediately responded to a request for comment. Cherkaoui is a licensed attorney whose Houston law firm practices personal injury, immigration and business law, according to his website. He is also a practicing Muslim, according to his suit.Joseph Hoyt’s 2026 mock draft 2.0: Combine standouts could shuffle things up for Cowboys
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