MPAC Condemns Texas Education Standards that Promote a Distorted Portrayal of Islam

Washington, D.C. | www.mpac.org | September 3, 2026 —The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) is deeply concerned by the Texas State Board of Education’s preliminary approval of social studies standards that present students with a distorted and disproportionately negative portrayal of Islam and Muslim history.

Public schools have an obligation to educate students about religion accurately and without government preference or hostility toward any faith. Singling out Islam through lessons centered on violence, slavery, and conflict, while minimizing the historical and intellectual contributions of Muslims, fails that basic standard.

These decisions have consequences beyond the classroom. Muslim students should not be placed in the position of having to defend their faith because their state chose to present it through a lens of violence and suspicion.

“Public education should teach students how to understand history, not tell them which faiths are worthy of respect and which should be viewed with suspicion,” said Dahlia M. Taha, Founding Director of MPAC’s First Amendment Center. “When a state uses its authority over public education to present one religious tradition through its contributions and another through violence, that is not neutral education. American Muslim students deserve the same dignity and constitutional protections afforded to every other student in a public school classroom.”

MPAC urges the Texas State Board of Education to reject these provisions before final adoption and ensure that the state’s social studies standards treat religious traditions with historical accuracy and constitutional neutrality.