Texas Lawmakers Demand Equal Treatment for Muslim Students in School Voucher Program
Dr Suleman Lalani and Ron Reynolds warn that the exclusion of accredited Islamic schools from Texas’s voucher system signals bias and violates the Constitution.
In a pointed critique of Texas’s Education Freedom Accounts voucher program, Dr Suleman Lalani, State Representative for District 76 in Fort Bend County, has raised alarm over what he describes as discriminatory practices against Muslim learners.
Despite clear legislation allowing accredited religious schools to participate, not a single Islamic school appears on the approved list—a situation Lalani calls a “red flag” for bias.
Dr Lalani, a seasoned healthcare provider and legislator, argues that the voucher system diverts public funds from neighborhood schools to a bureaucracy lacking accountability and warns that its rollout has exposed deeper inequities.
Drawing on his experience as a physician, Lalani identifies a pattern of targeting minority communities, urging officials to publish transparent standards and apply them equally.
The Texas State Representative, District 76 in Fort Bend County, Dr Lalani, has called on the state officials to stop discriminating against Muslims learners through the controversial school voucher system.
“The legislation is clear. If a private school meets the accreditation and eligibility standards, it should be treated the same as any other school,” he said.
“Yet it is very telling that, at this moment, not a single accredited Islamic school appears on the approved list, despite there being no restrictions on religious institutions. And no, this is not a minor administrative issue. It is a red flag,” he warned.
Lalani says the Texas Education Freedom Accounts voucher program was a bad idea, but applying the letter of the law equally to all would ensure benefits are distributed equitably.
He argues that it diverts public dollars from neighborhood public schools and hands them to a new bureaucracy with insufficient accountability.
“Now, the rollout is raising even more serious concerns. When a program that claims to be open to accredited private schools is administered in a way that appears biased, targeted, and arbitrary, it stops looking like school choice and starts looking like a dubious scheme that risks violating basic constitutional protections,” Dr Lalani adds.
“As a physician, I am trained to look at the symptoms, identify the root cause, and stop harm before it spreads. What we are seeing here is a pattern. They keep finding new ways to target our communities, and this time it is Muslim families and Islamic schools being pushed out, even when the law does not allow it. This is an insult to injury for the Muslim community, and it sends a chilling message to every family who expects the state to follow its own rules fairly.”
“I demand that state officials immediately follow the letter of the law, publish clear and consistent standards, and apply them equally to every eligible school,” Dr. Lalani said.
“If they refuse, our children are the ones who will pay the price.”
Texas House District 27 Representative Ron Reynolds echoes Dr Lalani’s sentiments, saying he is outraged that no accredited Islamic schools have been approved under the Texas Education Freedom Act.
“Muslim families are being shut out from accessing a public benefit that their own tax dollars help fund. That is not a minor administrative issue. That is a serious failure of equal protection and equal access under the law,” he adds.
According to Reynolds, the Texas Education Freedom Act does not authorize religious gatekeeping. “It does not permit selective delay. It does not allow bureaucratic exclusion based on faith. Yet that is precisely what Muslim families are experiencing.
When an entire faith community is denied participation, we must call it what it is. Freedom cannot be selective. Opportunity cannot be conditional. Justice cannot be reserved for some and withheld from others.”
Invoking the words of Dr Martin Luther King Jr., who reminded citizens that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” Reynolds said, those words are not just a quote for history books.
“They are a warning for all of us right now. When the government is empowered to discriminate based on religion in one instance, no faith community is safe from future political exclusion. Tomorrow it could be Jewish families, Catholic families, Hindu families, or any other faith facing the same harm.”
As Vice Chair of the Texas House Democratic Caucus and as a representative of one of the most diverse districts in this State, Reynold said he would not stand by while any faith community is marginalized.
“Religious liberty means liberty for all faiths. Equal opportunity means equal protection for all families. Texas is stronger when we all stand by the Constitution, not when we bend it to political convenience.
I call on state leadership to immediately investigate this matter, provide transparency in the approval process, and ensure Muslim families receive the same fair treatment provided to all other faiths. Our Muslim brothers and sisters deserve the same access and the same dignity guaranteed by our Constitution. Texas families choose whether their children are educated—not the government. Not a few. I stand firmly on the side of justice.”