Brighter Horizons Academy in Garland, Texas, which receives taxpayer voucher money, received $995,000 from a bank in which Iran is the third-largest shareholder. Photo courtesy of Brighter Horizons Academy.
Democrat Sarah Eckhardt, who defeated incumbent Republican Don Huffines in the Nov. 3 race for Texas comptroller, said at her first news conference on Nov. 4 that she would ensure Islamic and other religious schools are not blocked from receiving money through the state’s $1 billion Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA) school voucher program, according to the Houston Chronicle. As comptroller, Eckhardt will oversee the program, which Islamic schools sued to enter this year.
In February, Eckhardt said in a statement that the comptroller “has been instructed by the GOP to illegally discriminate based on religion” by keeping Islamic schools out of the program.
At the Nov. 4 news conference, she said, “I am not a fan of this policy. However, it is a policy that has passed the Texas Legislature, and it is the law. So as the comptroller, I will implement it, because it is the law.” She also said she would review the program’s spending and the data collected by the vendor that runs it.
Brighter Horizons Academy in Garland, one of the Islamic schools now in the program, describes itself on its own website as “a model Islamic educational institute” whose mission is to develop “practicing Muslim Leaders.” The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a Washington think tank, reported that the school received $995,000 from the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB).
The bank is based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and is affiliated with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a bloc of 57 Muslim-majority countries. Iran is the bank’s third-largest shareholder, while Qatar and Turkey are also among its top 10 shareholders, according to an Oct. 21 FDD report. The U.S. government has designated Iran a state sponsor of terrorism.
The Oct. 21 report found that IsDB has given more than $17 million to at least 50 private Islamic schools in the United States.
Many of those schools are accredited by the Council of Islamic Schools in North America (CISNA), which the FDD report describes as “a standards-setting body supported by IsDB.” Brighter Horizons lists CISNA among its accreditors. In 2023, the bank launched a project for “Enhancing the quality of education in Islamic schools in the USA through the Council of Islamic Schools in North America (CISNA),” the report states.
Brighter Horizons was founded in 1989 by the Islamic Services Foundation, which also publishes textbooks used in Islamic schools across the United States. Among the school’s founders was Rasmi Almallah, who served on the board of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), according to Texas Scorecard.
A federal jury in Dallas convicted HLF and five of its leaders in November 2008 of providing material support to Hamas. The Justice Department said the defendants provided approximately $12.4 million to the terrorist group. Majida Salem, the wife of convicted HLF chairman Ghassan Elashi, worked as an Islamic studies teacher at Brighter Horizons, according to the Middle East Forum, a Philadelphia-based think tank.
Democrats also won the governor’s office. Gina Hinojosa defeated Gov. Greg Abbott, according to the Associated Press, and Abbott conceded Tuesday night. Hinojosa takes office in January and has said she will try to eliminate the voucher program, which would require action by the legislature.
In 2023, Hinojosa voted against Senate Bill 1900, the state law that allowed Abbott to designate foreign terrorist organizations under Texas law. On Nov. 18, 2025, Abbott designated the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim advocacy group, and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations. The comptroller’s office cited ties to CAIR to keep Islamic schools out of TEFA.
The exclusion began in December 2025, when then-acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock asked Attorney General Ken Paxton whether schools accredited by Cognia, a state-approved accreditor, could be disqualified because they had hosted events organized by CAIR.
In January, Paxton issued an opinion stating that the comptroller could exclude schools that violate laws banning material support for foreign terrorist organizations. “Let me be crystal clear: Texans’ tax dollars should never fund Islamic terrorists or America’s enemies,” Paxton said.
In March, U.S. District Judge Alfred Bennett of the Southern District of Texas ordered the comptroller’s office to accept applications from Islamic schools. Four were admitted within days, including Brighter Horizons. An attorney for the schools said the state’s attorney conceded in court that the comptroller had no evidence tying Brighter Horizons to CAIR or any other organization that would bar it from the program.
Hancock lost the March Republican primary for comptroller to Huffines, and Abbott then appointed Huffines acting comptroller. Eckhardt has asked Abbott to appoint her the same way, before her January swearing-in.
On Oct. 21, Abbott’s campaign announced that CAIR Action, CAIR’s political affiliate, had chosen Hinojosa as its preferred candidate for governor.
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