Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools

The Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools, or TAPPS, is an organization headquartered in the Lone Star Tower at Texas Motor Speedway Fort Worth, Texas. It creates rules for, and sometimes administers, almost all athletic and academic contests for non-public high schools in Texas. (Texas, unlike most states, has separate organizations for public and private schools, but public and private schools may schedule each other in competition.)

Activities range from football and other sports to academic and fine arts competitions.

As of 2012 TAPPS organizes competitions for over 200 private schools in Texas.

TAPPS was established in the 1970s in order to coordinate athletic competitions among Christian schools.

In 2010 Iman Academy Southwest, a Muslim school, submitted an application to join TAPPS. TAPPS responded by asking Iman to complete a questionnaire with questions like "Historically, there is nothing in the Koran that fully embraces Christianity or Judaism in the way a Christian and/or a Jew understands his religion. Why, then, are you interested in joining an association whose basic beliefs your religion condemns?" Iman Academy SW did not fill out the questionnaire and the attached application, and TAPPS denied Iman SW admission into the league. Iman SW did not appeal the decision.

In 2012 TAPPS came under harsh criticism after it refused to reschedule a semifinals basketball game scheduled for 9 p.m. on Friday March 2 despite the fact that Robert M. Beren Academy, an Orthodox Jewish school, asked that its players not play on Jewish Sabbath. The school had won the regional championship to advance for their first trip to the semi-finals. An appeal was made by Beren academy but denied by TAPPS under its bylaws set in the 1970s. TAPPS received legal pressure and pressure from Mayor Annise Parker of Houston as well as hundreds of letters. TAPPS eventually relented and allowed the game to be rescheduled under this pressure.

The controversies with Iman Academy Southwest and Robert M. Beren Academy drew much attention nationwide through the New York Times and caused many to call for a review of the association.

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