A Muslim parent is suing Texas for excluding certain Islamic private schools from the state’s new school choice program.
The federal lawsuit alleges constitutional violations for religious discrimination and attempts to refute claims that the excluded schools have terrorist ties.
Background
Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA) allow families to use taxpayer-funded accounts to pay for private school tuition, homeschooling expenses, and other educational services—up to $10,000 per student per year.
The program was enacted by the Texas Legislature in 2025. Applications for the 2026-27 school year opened in February and the deadline is March 17.
In December 2025, Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock requested Attorney General Ken Paxton’s legal opinion on whether certain private schools may be barred from participating in the program due to potential ties to terrorist organizations or foreign adversaries.
Some prospective TEFA applicants are accredited through Cognia, a Texas Private School Accreditation Commission-approved accrediting agency, but operate at addresses that have hosted publicly advertised events organized by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
Gov. Greg Abbott designated CAIR as both a foreign terrorist organization and a transnational criminal organization under Texas law last year.
In January, Paxton issued a legal opinion affirming that the Texas Comptroller’s Office has the “exclusive” authority to determine which private schools and education vendors are eligible to participate in the TEFA program.
Paxton wrote that TEFA participation is also conditioned on compliance with “other relevant laws,” including bans on aiding foreign terrorist organizations and restrictions on property ownership by transnational criminal organizations. Schools or vendors that violate those laws can be deemed ineligible for the program.
The Lawsuit
On March 1, Mehdi Cherkaoui filed a federal lawsuit in the Southern District of Texas, challenging the constitutionality of Paxton’s decision. An attorney representing himself, Cherkaoui alleges religious discrimination while asserting that some schools “have no actual connection to terrorism or unlawful activity.”
Named as defendants in the lawsuit are Paxton, Hancock, and Education Commissioner Mike Morath, all in their official capacities. The suit brings claims under the Free Exercise and Establishment clauses of the First Amendment and the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Cherkaoui is described in the lawsuit as “an adult resident of Harris County, Texas, and a practicing Muslim. He is the father of two minor children who attend Houston Qur’an Academy Spring.” He immigrated to the U.S. from Morocco.
The lawsuit contends that Cherkaoui will lose over $20,000 in TEFA funding for the entire 2026–27 school year “unless HQA Spring is restored to eligibility and added to the approved school list before March 17.”
The claims assume that Cherkaoui would receive the funds, but the accounts are being awarded based on a variety of socio-economic factors. Texas already has more student applications than funding for the program.
Cherkaoui seeks an “emergency temporary restraining order and preliminary and permanent injunctive relief to halt Defendants’ religious discrimination before the March 17, 2026, TEFA application deadline, along with declaratory relief, nominal damages, and attorneys’ fees.”
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