More than 160,000 students have applied for vouchers to attend private schools in Texas. Yet this massive expansion in school choice is being undermined by state officials’ decision to ban about two dozen Muslim schools from participating.
The program, which the legislature created last year, offers more than $10,000 for individual students to enroll at private institutions, including the hundreds of religious schools across the state. Its popularity underscores the high demand for private education across Texas.
Yet acting comptroller Kelly Hancock (R), as well as Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), have granted themselves the power to exclude any school with a link to a “foreign terrorist organization” or “foreign adversary.” Everyone agrees that taxpayers shouldn’t subsidize terrorism or education provided by hostile nations. The problems begin when politicians arbitrarily decide which schools are too politically toxic to fund.
Hancock and Paxton have barred funding for any school associated with the accrediting company Cognia, which has hosted events organized by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). As a result, practically all of the state’s Muslim schools, as well as some Christian and special education schools, have been blacklisted.
CAIR deserves plenty of scorn. Its executive director Nihad Awad has eulogized Islamic extremists and celebrated the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks. And many former CAIR members have been convicted for aiding extremist groups. While its leaders have made odious remarks, they are protected speech and the federal government hasn’t designated CAIR as a terrorist organization. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has, but the group has sued to block the designation.
Given the controversy, it’s a wonder why any school would want to be involved with CAIR. No matter what one thinks of the organization, however, it makes little sense to punish schools that are only tangentially associated with it — if at all. In fact, CAIR told The Post that it has never worked with several of the schools barred from Texas’s voucher program.
When Abbott campaigned for the school choice program, he often characterized it as a way to empower families. “I believe that every parent can do a better job of raising their children if they are given the power to choose the school that is best for their child,” he said. He’s right, and every properly credentialed school with law-abiding leadership has earned the right to participate. Surely parents who send their children to these private institutions can judge for themselves whether they are worthy.
Politicians often govern as if their party will never lose power. Yet Republicans indifferent to this injustice should wonder how they would feel if controversial Christian or Jewish schools were targeted and punished by the government.
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