Houston Lawmaker Fields Community Questions on School Funding, AI and Immigrant Student Support

State Rep. Penny Morales Shaw addressed questions raised by Houston’s ethnic media outlets following her briefing on youth issues, touching on religious school funding, artificial intelligence in classrooms and support for immigrant families.

By Tariq Khan | 30 July 2026

State Rep. Penny Morales Shaw.

HOUSTON — Following her recent briefing on youth issues, Texas state Rep. Penny Morales Shaw has responded to a set of follow-up questions submitted by Houston’s community media outlets, offering fuller detail on three issues likely to resonate with Pakistani American families across the region: how public dollars are flowing into religious schools, how the state is beginning to regulate artificial intelligence in children’s lives, and what new resources exist for immigrant students pursuing a college education. The written responses came after questions were left unanswered in the chat during her original briefing, and her office followed up individually to make sure each was addressed in full.

Public Funds and Religious Schools

Responding to a question from journalist Jay Malhotra, Rep. Morales Shaw laid out the mechanics of the Texas Education Freedom Accounts programme, known as TEFA, created under Senate Bill 2 and signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott in May 2025. Set to launch for the 2026-27 school year, TEFA gives eligible families roughly $10,000 per student to put toward private school tuition, tutoring, transportation and school meals, with larger amounts available for students with disabilities and smaller amounts for families who homeschool. The programme is capped at $1 billion for this budget cycle, though its projected cost is expected to climb to around $4.8 billion by 2030 as enrolment grows.

Rep. Morales Shaw was careful to draw a distinction for families weighing the programme’s implications. Religious institutions are not directly funding TEFA, she noted; the state is. But because a majority of private schools in Texas carry a religious affiliation, a substantial share of the public money is likely to end up supporting religious education. For Pakistani American families in Houston considering private or faith-based schooling, that means TEFA dollars may increasingly flow toward religiously affiliated campuses even though the funding itself originates with the state rather than any religious body — a distinction Rep. Morales Shaw said is worth understanding as families weigh their options ahead of the programme’s first enrolment cycle.

Artificial Intelligence and the Classroom

Asked by journalist DaNeshia Bell about AI’s growing impact on children, Rep. Morales Shaw pointed to the Texas Responsible AI Governance Act, or TRAIGA, which took effect on 1 January 2026. The law is not written specifically for classrooms, but it requires AI systems that involve biometric data, generate content, or make decisions affecting Texans to meet standards on disclosure, transparency and anti-discrimination. It also created a state AI Advisory Council tasked with studying emerging risks and recommending future policy to lawmakers.

At the district level, Rep. Morales Shaw said some educators are already experimenting with what she called “unplugged AI” instruction, teaching students how the technology actually works before turning them loose to use it day to day, rather than introducing the tools without any grounding in how they function. Still, she was candid that the pace of AI development is outrunning the state’s regulatory response. Her office expects to push additional legislation in the 90th legislative session addressing AI use in schools and children’s access to AI tools more broadly, and she invited community members with ideas on the subject to contact her office directly, saying she would genuinely welcome hearing from parents and educators on how the state can keep pace.

Higher Education Support for Immigrant Families

On a question from journalist Nabeel Ishaq about resources for immigrant families pursuing higher education, Rep. Morales Shaw highlighted her office’s role in passing House Bill 1361, which amended the Texas Education Code to require every public college and university in the state to designate a liaison officer for students who are parents of a child under 18. Under Texas Education Code Section 51.982, that liaison connects student-parents with information on health coverage, housing and food assistance, and childcare, while institutions must report demographic and enrollment data on student-parents to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board each year.

She also flagged a resource many immigrant families have not heard of: the Texas Application for State Financial Aid, or TASFA, the state’s equivalent of the FAFSA for Texas residents who are not U.S. citizens, including undocumented students who meet residency requirements. TASFA opens in-state tuition and state financial aid to long-term Texas residents regardless of immigration status. Students may apply if they are ineligible for federal aid — a category that includes undocumented students, DACA recipients and certain visa holders — graduated from a Texas high school or earned a GED in the state, lived in Texas for at least three years before graduation or receiving their GED, have resided in Texas for the 12 months before enrolling, and plan to enrol in an eligible Texas college or university. The 2026-27 application is available in both English and Spanish, which Rep. Morales Shaw said is intended to make the process more accessible for families still building their English proficiency.

Rep. Morales Shaw also pointed families toward the Intercultural Development Research Association, or IDRA, which publishes free bilingual materials for immigrant families, including guides to navigating in-state tuition and the K-12 system, a college guide for parents, and a five-part video series on student rights, financial aid and adult education options. She additionally recommended Community Voices for Public Education, a Houston-based group she said she knows personally and can vouch for, describing it as inclusive and effective at helping families navigate education resources from pre-K through college. Taken together, she said, the liaison requirement, TASFA and organisations like IDRA and CVPE are meant to form a fuller support network for immigrant families who might otherwise not know where to turn.