According to the Texas Private Schools Association (TPSA), 1,166 schools are registered to participate in the TEFA program. This leaves approximately 500+ Cognia-accredited schools that still have not gotten an invitation to apply. As of Friday morning, a few schools solely accredited by Cognia have gotten the invitation to apply, but we do not know how those schools have been selected, and we do not have an assurance that all schools will be invited before the application process opens for families on Feb. 4. 

TPSA has been working behind the scenes to make sure that lawmakers and other interested parties understand what is happening and what is at stake here. While they are continuing to do so, they need everyone to reach out to the comptroller, legislators and any other contacts in state government to make sure that everyone is aware of the issue and will join us in pushing back to allow these schools to participate in a timely manner.   

What We Know of What Has Happened

At 7 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 19, the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts made public a request for an opinion from the Attorney General dated Dec. 12 that asked if certain schools, accredited by Cognia, could be disqualified from participating in the TEFA program if they were "based at an address that have hosted publicly advertised events organized by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) or may be owned or controlled by a holding group linked to foreign adversaries seeking influence over U.S. education, specifically, an adviser to the Chinese communist government."  

On Dec. 23, TPSA was made aware that all Cognia-accredited and co-accredited schools (approximately 700 schools) were placed on hold for the TEFA program until the Attorney General submitted an answer to this request, or more information was provided. Almost a third of private schools eligible to participate in the TEFA program are Cognia-accredited. 

TPSA connected with Cognia and other stakeholders to attempt to understand the allegations and respond appropriately. On Dec. 24, TPSA filed this letter brief to highlight the inconsistencies with Senate Bill 2, that created the TEFA program, in that accredited private schools shall be approved if they met the conditions outlined in the bill text and final rule. The bill's text does not allow for additional requirements imposed by the Comptroller. "Any concerns about a school's compliance with other Texas laws should be addressed through the appropriate legal or regulatory channels, rather than by adding extra-statutory requirements to TEFA eligibility," TPSA's brief reads.

On Jan. 5, TPSA was contacted by the Comptroller's office and told that Cognia schools should be released "soon" with the ones co-accredited with another accrediting commission being invited to apply first. Most of these co-accredited schools were invited to apply the evening of Jan. 16, but that leaves the remaining 500 Cognia schools without an application to apply to the TEFA program.