{"id":208690,"date":"2026-03-17T19:46:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T19:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/208690\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T19:46:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T19:46:07","slug":"judge-extends-texas-school-voucher-application-deadline-after-lawsuit-over-exclusion-of-islamic-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/208690\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge extends Texas school voucher application deadline after lawsuit over exclusion of Islamic schools"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">HOUSTON \u2013 A judge ruled Tuesday to extend the application deadline for the Texas school voucher program after four Muslim parents and three private schools sued Texas leaders, alleging Islamic private schools were excluded from participating in the state\u2019s program.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The two federal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Islamic-School-Voucher-Lawsuit-3_1_26.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">lawsuits<\/a> ask the court to block the voucher program from discriminating on the basis of religion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The first lawsuit, filed March 1 by a parent on behalf of two children who attend a Houston private school, names Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock and Education Commissioner Mike Morath as defendants.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">A second lawsuit, filed March 11 by three parents and three schools, names Hancock and Mary Katherine Stout, the education savings account program manager, as defendants.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Tuesday, March 17, was listed as the final day for Texas families to apply for the state\u2019s new school voucher program. However, the judge granted a temporary restraining order allowing parents to submit applications until March 31.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The judge also ordered the Texas Comptroller\u2019s Office to allow Islamic schools to submit applications for the Texas Education Freedom Accounts program.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">KPRC 2 has reached out to the Texas Comptroller\u2019s Office for a comment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Interest in the program has been high. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">According to the Texas Comptroller\u2019s Office, more than 200,000 students have applied, making it one of the largest school choice launches in the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Under the program, selected students could receive about $10,000 per year for private school tuition, while homeschool students may receive smaller amounts for educational expenses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Funding decisions are expected to be announced starting in early April. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">To apply, visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/educationfreedom.texas.gov\/#ForFamilies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/educationfreedom.texas.gov\/#ForFamilies\">Texas Education Freedom Program website<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The Texas Tribune contributed to this article.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 A judge ruled Tuesday to extend the application deadline for the Texas school voucher program after&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[81841,81842,81840,9850,5189,27,29,28,34421],"class_list":["post-208690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-christian-private-schools","tag-education-savings-account-program","tag-islamic-private-schools","tag-lawsuits","tag-school-voucher-program","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-texas-school-vouchers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}