{"id":135096,"date":"2026-01-23T14:18:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T14:18:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/135096\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T14:18:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T14:18:06","slug":"abbott-demands-cy-fair-isd-end-any-ties-to-2026-houston-islamic-games-district-pushes-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/135096\/","title":{"rendered":"Abbott demands Cy-Fair ISD end any ties to 2026 Houston Islamic Games; District pushes back"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON \u2013 Governor Greg Abbott is demanding Cypress-Fairbanks ISD<\/a> terminate any negotiations or agreements connected to the 2026 Houston Islamic Games, citing concerns about alleged ties to the Council on American-Islamic Relations\u2019 New Jersey chapter (CAIR), which he has designated as a foreign terrorist organization under state law.<\/p>\n

In a letter dated January 21 to Cy-Fair ISD<\/a> Board President Julie Hinaman and Superintendent Douglas Killian, Abbott warned that allowing public school facilities to be used for events sponsored by CAIR NJ would violate state law and endanger students. The governor directed the district to preserve all records related to the event and to confirm within seven days that any negotiations had been terminated, or face investigation by the Texas Education Agency and potential legal action by Attorney General Ken Paxton.<\/p>\n

Abbott\u2019s proclamation from November 2025 designates the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organizations, alleging CAIR is a front group for Hamas, a claim CAIR has repeatedly denied.<\/p>\n

\u201cRadical Islamic extremism is not welcome in Texas and certainly not in our schools,\u201d Abbott wrote, adding that taxpayer-funded facilities cannot be used to host events sponsored by designated terrorist organizations.<\/p>\n

Cy-Fair ISD officials responded with a statement to KPRC 2 News disputing the governor\u2019s characterization of the district\u2019s involvement and criticizing the way the issue was raised.<\/p>\n

According to the district, CFISD has not received the governor\u2019s letter directly and only became aware of it through an online press release. District officials said CFISD is not \u201chosting\u201d the 2026 Houston Islamic Games and currently has no facility use agreements in place for the 2026\u201327 school year.<\/p>\n

CFISD noted that under district policy GKD (LOCAL), community groups are permitted to rent school facilities for non-school use, provided the use does not conflict with district operations. The district reported nearly 13,000 hours of community facility use during the 2024\u201325 school year, including by youth sports leagues and churches of multiple denominations.<\/p>\n

\u201cGKD (LOCAL) does not distinguish between religions in our facility use guidelines, nor does the district distinguish between religious and non-religious viewpoints,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

CFISD said it previously entered into a facility use agreement with the Islamic Games of North America for an event in September 2025, but stated it had never contracted with CAIR NJ and was not aware of any CAIR NJ affiliation during the prior rental.<\/p>\n

\u201cCFISD is aware of the state prohibition against governmental entities entering into contracts with companies identified as foreign terrorist organizations and has fully complied with this statute,\u201d the district said, adding it would continue to follow both state law and anti-discrimination laws.<\/p>\n

Islamic Games website lists 2026 event in Cypress despite Cy-Fair ISD saying the district isn’t hosting an event. (Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

Despite the district\u2019s statement that no agreements exist for the 2026\u201327 school year, the Islamic Games of North America website lists<\/a> events scheduled for September or October 2026 in Cypress. The site also includes an events map that identifies Sprague Middle School as a location associated with the Houston-area games.<\/p>\n

It remains unclear whether those listings reflect finalized facility agreements or tentative planning by event organizers.<\/p>\n

Islamic Games website shows Sprague Middle School as an event site despite Cy-Fair ISD saying the district an event isn’t being held at the district. (Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

CFISD officials say no facility reservations for the 2026 Houston Islamic Games can be made until Aug. 1, when the district opens reservations for the following school year.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week Grapevine-Colleyville ISD canceled plans<\/a> to host the Islamic Games after learning of CAIR\u2019s alleged sponsorship, citing the governor\u2019s designation and state law. <\/p>\n

Organizers of the Islamic Games<\/a> said CAIR \u201chas never been, and is not presently, a sponsor, partner, affiliate or supporter\u201d of the sports festival. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are deeply concerned that a sporting event for children is being targeted,\u201d Salaudeen Nausrudeen, president of Islamic Games, said in an email to the Report<\/a>. \u201cIt is our hope that better minds prevail.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 Governor Greg Abbott is demanding Cypress-Fairbanks ISD terminate any negotiations or agreements connected to the 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135097,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[20143,26899,6944,392,56,58,57,57627,1967,57629,57628,2810,39068],"class_list":["post-135096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-cy-fair-isd","tag-cypress-fairbanks-isd","tag-governor-greg-abbott","tag-greg-abbott","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-islamic-games-of-north-america","tag-ken-paxton","tag-religious-facility-rental","tag-sprague-middle-school","tag-texas-education-agency","tag-texas-state-law"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}