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Texas and Florida are under scrutiny and could face legal action for their decisions to exclude Islamic schools from their respective school voucher programs.
In both states, officials have attempted to label the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim advocacy organization, as a foreign terrorist entity, despite it not having any criminal convictions or being recognized as such by federal authorities.
These Republican-led initiatives to broaden school choice are now clashing with what critics describe as a growing trend of Islamophobia.
In Texas, approximately 20 Islamic schools have been omitted from the school choice program due to supposed affiliations with CAIR.
Meanwhile, Florida is considering new legislation that, if enacted, would bar schools associated with CAIR from taking part in its program.
The schools targeted by Texas Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock allegedly were accredited by Cognia and hosted events organized by CAIR, which Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has declared a terrorist group.
Those in favor of the move say it is not about religion
“What is going on is this has nothing to do with religion or freedom of religion. This has everything to do with ensuring that in no way is Texas providing financial support to entities tied to or a part of terrorist organizations or hostile foreign nations like the Communist Party of China,” said Mandy Drogin, senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
The position has led to two federal lawsuits filed against Texas by Muslim parents and private schools who argue the state has “systematically targeted Islamic schools for exclusion.”
And whether all these schools even have ties to CAIR is a matter of debate.
“The schools that I know that haven’t been invited — the accredited private schools that happen to be Islamic — are really good schools that have great curriculum … they have a strong community culture. The families really are well served by the schools, and I do not think they’re doing anything that is accused in these opinions,” said Laura Colangelo, executive director of the Texas Private Schools Association.
“I am certain that there are schools that have absolutely no connection to CAIR that could prove that, and I would like for them to be able to have that opportunity,” she added.
The Texas comptroller’s office has begun reviews of some schools with Cognia accreditation that it believes is in compliance with Texas law, but it is unclear what evidence these schools need to prove that, the Associated Press reported.
The Hill has reached out to the comptroller’s office for comment.
In Florida, a judge struck down Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) designation of CAIR as a terrorist group, but a bill working its way through the state legislature could still lead to schools associated with the group to be excluded from the state’s school voucher program.
The exclusion of Muslim schools from the programs comes amid concerns over a rise in Islamophobia in the U.S. GOP Texas lawmakers in Congress have formed a Sharia-Free America Caucus, and politicians in the state have been campaigning on their anti-Muslim positions.
“We should ban the burqa, the hijab, the abaya, the niqab,” Larry Brock, a Republican candidate for Texas’s state legislature, said at event last month, according to The New York Times. “No to halal meat. No to celebrating Ramadan. No, no, no.”
Florida Rep. Randy Fine (R) drew calls for a censure from Democrats last month after posting online that he would choose dogs over Muslims if forced to pick, and this week, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) was sharply condemned over a post connecting New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s (D) Ramadan iftar at City Hall with the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
CAIR rejects the accusations lobbied against it.
“What we are seeing is not even religious discrimination, what we are seeing is religious persecution. Those families, they choose private Islamic schools, they pay taxes like everyone else, but they were not evaluated based on objective criteria under the law,” said Shaimaa Zayan, operations manager for CAIR-Austin.
“This religious persecution is based on narrative, not reality. We have officials and politicians in Texas who have been creating panic about Muslim and Islam to justify religious persecution of peaceful, law-abiding Muslim citizens here,” Zayan added.
School choice programs have exploded since the pandemic, with many Republican states adopting policies that allow parents to receive a certain amount of money each year to use on private school costs.
Under President Trump, Republicans created the first federal school choice program, with donations to school choice scholarships receiving a dollar-for-dollar tax credit if a state opts in to the program.
But the fights in Texas and Florida highlight concerns over bias on who is eligible for the money.
“I think it is problematic because it undermines the purpose of choice, which is to let families and educators make decisions among themselves about who provides education and how it’s done,” said Neal McCluskey, director for the Center for Educational Freedom at the Institute. “Unless a school is found guilty in a court of law of criminal activity, that school should be something that people can choose.”