Texas Comptroller Investigated Nearly 50 Islamic and Chinese Private Schools for Voucher Program

The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts contracted two outside researchers to examine nearly 50 private schools with alleged ties to radical Islamic organizations or the Chinese government after receiving information from multiple sources. The investigation delayed the schools' participation in the state's new voucher program, which provides taxpayer-funded tuition assistance for private education.

The comptroller's office later admitted all investigated schools into the program.

Islamic private school campuses filed suit against the comptroller in March after the agency initially excluded them from the voucher program. The schools seek class-action certification to prevent future discrimination against specific private schools.

The comptroller's office opposes class-action status, stating the four campuses now participate in the program on equal footing with other approved providers.

A British court had previously ordered Westrop to pay more than $173,000 in libel damages after he published an article calling the founder of a London-based Islamic TV channel a convicted terrorist. Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock asked the state attorney general in December whether the agency could exclude schools with alleged ties to the Chinese Communist government or the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Attorney General Ken Paxton ruled that it could. Murl Miller, the comptroller's chief counsel for general litigation, testified in a May deposition that the agency received information identifying almost 50 schools with alleged links to the Chinese Communist Party or extremist groups.