“My Faith Shouldn’t Disqualify My Children”: Muslim Parent Sues Over Voucher Exclusion
Father of two Claims Texas Rigged Voucher Map to Shut Out Islamic Schools in $1B Program from which not a single Muslim school has benefitted.
A Harris County Muslim parent, Mehdi Cherkaoui, says his children are being denied equal access to Texas’s new school voucher program, not because their school fails to meet state standards, but because it is Islamic.
Cherkaoui, whose two children attend Houston Qur’an Academy Spring, has filed a federal lawsuit accusing top Texas officials of categorically excluding Islamic private schools from the Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA) program based on religious identity.
The lawsuit, according to Fox26 Houston, calls the alleged practice “impermissible religious gerrymandering” and claims it violates constitutional protections against religious discrimination.
“My children’s school meets every neutral requirement of the program,” Cherkaoui argues in court filings. “Yet it has been blocked solely because it is Muslim.”
The lawsuit names Texas Comptroller Kelly Hancock, Attorney General Ken Paxton, and Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath. Hancock oversees the TEFA program, Paxton issued a legal opinion supporting broad exclusion authority, and Morath’s office sets standards for private school eligibility.
According to the filing, no Islamic school had been approved for the voucher program when applications opened to parents on Feb. 4, despite multiple schools applying.
Cherkaoui contends the exclusion is not based on any individualized findings of wrongdoing, but on sweeping assumptions that Islamic schools are inherently suspect.
“The exclusion is not based on unlawful conduct by any specific school,” the lawsuit states, “but rather on categorical presumptions that Islamic schools are potentially linked to terrorism by virtue of their religious identity and community associations.”
Cherkaoui pays $17,910 per year in tuition for his children. If their school were approved and he qualified for the program, their education would be covered by the state vouchers. Instead, he says, his family has been shut out of a benefit available to parents whose children attend non-Islamic private schools.
The lawsuit alleges Hancock is relying on Governor Greg Abbott’s designation of the Council on American‑Islamic Relations (CAIR) as a terrorist organization — and on vague references to “Islamic ties” — to deny all Islamic schools access to TEFA, regardless of whether they have any affiliation with CAIR or any designated group.
Houston Qur’an Academy Spring, the filing notes, has hosted routine community and civic events such as “Know Your Rights” presentations on civil liberties — activities the lawsuit says are common among religious institutions of all faiths.
The legal challenge follows a letter from Texas Democratic lawmakers accusing the comptroller’s office of using blanket exclusion to bar Islamic schools from the program.
In January, Paxton issued an opinion stating the comptroller has full authority under Senate Bill 2 to prohibit schools under “other relevant laws.” While attorney general opinions are not legally binding, they are often used as guidance by state agencies.
Abbott designated CAIR a terrorist organization in November. The group has since filed its own lawsuit, arguing the designation is defamatory and based on false claims
Cherkaoui is asking the court to order state officials to process his children’s school application using the same neutral, non-discriminatory standards applied to non-Islamic private schools.
The deadline for parents to finalize enrollment in the voucher program is March 17.