Texas Created a Program to Fund Religious Schools. So Why Are Muslim Schools Missing?
Muslim families in Texas are asking: Does school choice include us? A Houston-area father went to enroll his kids in Texas’ new school voucher program and discovered their school wasn’t on the list — along with every other Islamic school in the state. Texas launched one of the country’s largest school choice programs, promising families public funds for religious private schools, but roughly a hundred Muslim schools were excluded without official explanation. State officials have posted publicly about not funding schools tied to terrorist organizations, pointing to Gov. Greg Abbott’s designation of the Council on American-Islamic Relations as a foreign terrorist organization — a designation the federal government has not made. Now families are suing. Amanda Henderson talks with RNS reporter Fiona André and Editor-in-Chief Paul O’Donnell about the lawsuits, the communities affected and what this moment reveals about who “school choice” was really built for. This transcript was created using AI tools and may contain minor transcription errors AMANDA HENDERSON: From RNS and the Institute for Religion, Politics, and Culture, this is Complexified, …

