Texas Islamic Private Schools Allege Discrimination Delayed Participation in Voucher Program

A $60B Vote of Confidence

The Texas voucher program, which awards eligible families taxpayer dollars for private education or homeschooling, has been at the center of a controversy surrounding Islamic private schools. The program's administrators have been accused of discriminating against certain schools based on their alleged ties to radical Islamic organizations and the Chinese government. The allegations were made by a British man named Sam Westrop, who had previously been ordered to pay libel damages for making similar claims about a London-based Islamic TV channel.

Westrop's allegations, along with claims made by several others, were among the primary reasons the comptroller's office investigated the schools and delayed their admittance in the voucher program. The scope of the investigations was also far broader than what was previously known, with the state using taxpayer money to contract with two investigators to dig into the histories of nearly 50 private schools across the state.

The extent of the state's probe and Westrop's involvement are detailed as part of a new trove of legal filings in a lawsuit four Islamic private school campuses filed against the state comptroller in March. The lawsuit draws heavily on an eight-hour deposition of Murl Miller, the comptroller's chief counsel for general litigation, taken in May as part of the lawsuit.

While the comptroller has since accepted all of the investigated schools into the voucher program, the schools that pursued the legal action are still asking the judge to certify a class-action lawsuit to ensure the comptroller can't discriminate against certain private schools in the future. The comptroller's office has objected to certifying the lawsuit as a class action, saying it shouldn't be allowed to continue since the four Islamic campuses were ultimately allowed into the voucher program.

The debate over whether to allow the schools into the voucher program has come amid a wave of anti-Muslim rhetoric among some elected officials and prominent political candidates in Texas and across the country. At the state Republican Party convention last month, members tried to remove Muslims as delegates. Dr. Rick Scarborough, a former Southern Baptist pastor, told a Muslim attendee he wanted him to leave the event. (Scarborough later clarified to The Texas Tribune he wanted him to leave the country and admitted he had some regrets about the interaction.)

In November, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott designated CAIR a foreign terrorist organization. Florida's governor soon followed with his own accusations. CAIR is part of a lawsuit against Abbott and Paxton challenging the enforcement of the governor's designation, saying he issued it 'without due process and in violation of federal law.' The case is ongoing.

In the months since the Islamic schools' lawsuit was filed, the comptroller's office has maintained that its leaders did not purposefully single out certain schools. Instead, agency officials said that the Islamic schools were swept up in a wider review of some 700 private schools that were accredited by Cognia, a nonprofit that vets tens of thousands of schools worldwide. The agency has said it did not know which schools had Islamic connections but instead set aside the entire group after discovering not all had up-to-date accreditations, which are mandated to qualify for the Texas voucher program.

Cognia could not be immediately reached for comment. Miller's deposition, however, revealed that the comptroller's office had been aware of the potential for discrimination against certain schools and had taken steps to address it. The office had also been in contact with the Texas Attorney General's office, which had provided guidance on how to handle the situation.

The comptroller's office has maintained that its actions were necessary to ensure the integrity of the voucher program. However, the lawsuit filed by the Islamic schools argues that the comptroller's actions were discriminatory and violated the schools' rights to equal treatment.

The case highlights the ongoing debate over religious liberty and the treatment of Muslim communities in the United States. It also raises questions about the role of taxpayer money in funding private education and the potential for discrimination against certain groups.