Despite first recognizing Eid as an official holiday in 2023, Houston ISD, the largest school district in Texas, has now removed Eid from the 2025-2026 academic calendar. This is a direct attack on our community and our values, illustrating that Muslim religious needs are secondary and our presence in public life is not valued. According to HISD, Muslim students and educators do not deserve the same respect and recognition as their peers.

We join CAIR-Houston in calling for Eid to be reinstated as an official school holiday.

 

Selective Removal Shows Systemic Bias

HISD has long recognized Christian and Jewish holidays, and adding Eid was a necessary step in meeting its student body needs as the largest school district in Texas. But removing Eid, while maintaining other religious holidays, exposes a double standard. Why is the Muslim holiday the only one deemed expendable?

This decision sends a clear message of systemic bias: Muslim students and their faith are less legitimate, less valued, and more easily erased. 

Forced to Choose Between Faith & Academics 

While other students enjoy their religious holidays without consequence, HISD wants to force Muslim students into an unfair dilemma. An excused absence doesn’t change the reality that missing a day of school, especially in advanced courses, means falling behind. Lessons, exams, and assignments pile up. Muslim students either feel pressured to skip out on their religious obligations to attend school or cannot fully engage in prayer and celebration as they worry about grades and catching up. 

Religious holidays are sacred, meant to be a time of spiritual connection, family, and community– not stress and academic sacrifice. Muslim students shouldn’t have to choose between their faith and their education, both of which are fundamental to their identity and well-being.

A Disturbing Pattern of Marginalization

HISD’s decision isn’t an isolated incident, it’s part of a disturbing pattern of bias where Muslim students are repeatedly excluded and their faith dismissed. Research shows that 40-50% of Muslim students face consistent marginalization and discrimination at school, with nearly half reporting feeling unsafe, unwelcome, or uncomfortable because of their Muslim identity.

Schools are meant to be institutions of growth and learning, but this ongoing exclusion alienates Muslim students, slowly chipping away at their identity and confidence, and even leading them to question their religious beliefs and disengage from their practice of Islam completely.

Muslim students cannot only be tolerated -  they must be valued for who they are.

Public Institutions Belong to the Public

When the Texas Education Agency took over HISD, local parents, students, and teachers– especially from Black, Latino, and immigrant communities– were stripped of the right to shape their own schools. Decisions that should have reflected the needs and voices of those most affected were imposed from the top down, disregarding the communities that public education is meant to serve.

We have the right to shape the institutions meant to serve us, and we cannot allow a public school system to operate without public accountability to the people it serves. 

 

TAKE ACTION NOW

✊ Opposing structural bias and marginalization requires collective resistance. This means Muslim and allied communities must push back collectively

✍️ Sign the Petition: Show HISD that our community refuses to stay silent 

📢 Spread the Word: Share this petition and the graphics with friends, family, businesses, and local leaders