FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | Media Contact: Maria A. Kari (205)-862-8005; info@mariakari.org
HOUSTON, TEXAS — A federal judge in the Southern District of Texas has granted a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) in favor of Texas-based Islamic schools and Muslim families, finding that the Texas Comptroller’s Office caused immediate and irreparable harm by refusing to approve Islamic schools for participation in the Texas Education Freedom Account (TEFA) program while parents were submitting applications by the then-operative March 17 deadline. The court ordered that the deadline for all families statewide shall be extended to March 31, to ensure that all parents across Texas—not just those connected to this case—have additional time to apply.
In granting relief, the court observed that it was “troubled” that while more than 2,000 schools—including institutions affiliated with other faiths and those accredited by the same organizations as the plaintiff schools—were approved to participate in TEFA, not a single Islamic school was approved.
The proceedings further revealed that the State’s own explanation for this exclusion did not withstand scrutiny. Although the State initially claimed that Islamic schools were excluded due to issues with one particular accrediting organization, in court the State conceded that several hundred other schools accredited by that same organization were approved for participation. The State further conceded that there was no evidence linking the Plaintiff Islamic schools to any terrorist organization, undercutting prior insinuations made by state officials.
“This is a significant and necessary step. The Court recognized that the State cannot continue to impose unequal barriers during the active application period,” said lead counsel Eric Hudson. “Parents have a fundamental right to direct their children’s education, and the State cannot condition access to a public benefit on religious identity. Today’s ruling is an important step toward ensuring that principle is applied consistently and fairly.”
“Plaintiffs simply seek to be treated equally when it comes to a government-funded program—no more, no less. While it is too early in the lawsuit to ask a court to require the Acting Comptroller to do this, we are grateful that we were able to take the first step of extending the deadline for parent applications for TEFA’s inaugural year, as families’ participation in year one will impact their TEFA prioritization for years to come,” said co-counsel Ayesha Najam.
“The court’s ruling affirms a basic constitutional principle: the government cannot exclude families and schools from public benefits simply because of their faith. We are very grateful to the Court for hearing our case and ruling so timely. This relief will allow parents and schools that have been sidelined for months to catch up with their peers and submit their applications to the program,” said co-counsel Maha Ghyas.
Attorneys on the case (No. 4:26-cv-01960) include Eric Hudson and Cole Wilson of Arambula Terrazas PLLC; Ayesha Najam and Michael Davis of Gibbs & Bruns LLP; Maha Ghyas, Bradley W. Snead and Michael Adams-Hurta of Wright, Close, Barger & Guzman LLP; Murtaza Sutarwalla and Mansoor Broachwala of Edwards Sutarwalla Samani LLP; Omar Khawaja and Abdul Farukhi of the Law Offices of Omar Khawaja PLLC; and Maria A. Kari of Project TAHA. The case has been consolidated with a previously filed case (4:26-cv-01675, Mehdi
Cherkaoui v. Ken Paxton, et al.).
