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.

Founded in 1978, TAPPS governs athletic, fine arts, and academic contests for the majority of non-public high schools in Texas.

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

Controversies
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.

In 2015 a school within the Association (Lutheran High School North) caused controversy by discriminating against one of its students on the basis of orientation finally forcing this student to leave and creating a substantial amount of media coverage.

In 2015 the TAPPS Winter Division 1 Soccer State Championship Game was stopped by Trinity Christian Academy coaches and Athletic Director to protest a yellow card that was issued by the referee to a John Paul II player. The TCA AD left the field of play and met with the TAPPS Executive Director. They walked back to the JPII bench together and the TAPPS Executive Director issued an Administrative Red card to the player, over ruling the referee in charge of the game. This violates TAPPS section 134 "NO PROTESTS. A protest base on a game or contest official's decision will not be considered" and TAPPS section 27 "...may not protest a contest judge's / referee's or other official's decision". The cause of the controversy was that after scoring a goal to go up 1-0 with 32 minutes left in the game the player removed his jersey on the way to the bench and was issued a yellow card for this unsportsmanlike behavior. JPII was forced to play 10 v 11 for the remainder of the game and lost 1-2.

Groupings
Like the UIL, TAPPS aligns member schools into districts by geography and enrollment size for various contests. Each contest has a slightly different alignment based on the participating schools, but most follow the same basic framework. The districts are mostly decided behind closed doors by TAPPS every even year (in February, around the same time as the UIL's biannual redistricting), and are an attempt to keep schools within a certain distance of their home town when attending competitions. Like the UIL, the districts are the first progression to the state championship.

Schools are further broken down with a letter classification to separate them from other schools of varying sizes. The purpose is ensure that schools compete only with others with similar size talent pools and resources. TAPPS's general classifications are 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A, and 6A; unlike the UIL, whose official designations are strictly alphabetic, TAPPS officially uses alphanumeric designations for its classifications. The largest schools are classified as 6A, and the smallest are known as 1A. However, TAPPS uses different classification schemes in some other competitions (also by enrollment; larger numbers indicate lower enrollment unless otherwise indicated): TAPPS includes 8 other sports under the normal 1A through 6A alignments:
 * Fine arts and academic competitions: Standard classifications, except that Classes 1A and 2A are split into one subgroup for music and another for other arts and academics (a similar combining occurs in baseball and softball).
 * Football: Divisions I and II for six-man football; Divisions I, II, III, and IV for the 11-man game
 * Soccer: Divisions I and II
 * Swimming: Divisions I (Class 5A schools), II (Class 4A schools), and III (all smaller schools)
 * Wrestling: A single classification, as only 13 TAPPS schools (as of 2005) sponsor that sport
 * Baseball
 * Softball
 * Cross Country
 * Golf
 * Softball
 * Tennis
 * Track and Field
 * Volleyball

2018-2020 alignment
For the 2018-2020 seasons, the general alignments were adjusted with an average enrollment cut-off of 380 for 6A, 218 for 5A, 141 for 4A, 100 for 3A, and 71 for 2A. Schools with an average enrollment of 70 and below are in 1A.

District 1

 * Trinity Christian Academy (Addison)
 * Liberty Christian School (Argyle)
 * All Saints' Episcopal (Fort Worth)
 * Nolan Catholic High School (Fort Worth)
 * Midland Christian School (Midland)

District 2

 * Bishop Lynch High School (Dallas)
 * Bishop Dunne Catholic School (Dallas)
 * Parish Episcopal School (Dallas)
 * Ursuline Academy (Dallas) (girls sports only)
 * John Paul II High School (Plano)
 * Prestonwood Christian Academy (Plano)

District 3

 * St. Dominic Savio Catholic High School (Austin)
 * Antonian College Prep (San Antonio)
 * Central Catholic (San Antonio)
 * Incarnate Word High School (San Antonio)
 * Saint Mary's Hall (San Antonio)

District 4

 * Monsignor Kelly Catholic High School (Beaumont)
 * Awty International School (Houston)
 * Duchesne Academy (Houston)
 * Incarnate Word Academy (Houston)
 * St. Agnes Academy (Houston)
 * St. Pius X High School (Houston)
 * St. Thomas High School (Houston)
 * The Village School (Houston)
 * Pope John XXIII High School (Katy)
 * Concordia Lutheran High School (Tomball)

Independent

 * Cathedral High School (El Paso)
 * Loretto Academy (El Paso)

District 1

 * Fort Worth Christian (Fort Worth)
 * Southwest Christian (Fort Worth)
 * Legacy Christian Academy (Frisco)
 * Faith Christian School (Grapevine)

District 2

 * Prince of Peace (Carrollton)
 * Trinity Christian School (Cedar Hill)
 * Brighter Horizons Academy (Garland)
 * McKinney Christian Academy (McKinney)

District 3

 * The Brook Hill School (Bullard)
 * Dallas Christian School (Mesquite)
 * Bishop Thomas K. Gorman Catholic School (Tyler)
 * Grace Community School (Tyler)

District 4

 * Brentwood Christian School (Austin)
 * Hyde Park Baptist High School (Austin)
 * Regents School of Austin (Austin)
 * St. Michael's Catholic Academy (Austin)

District 5

 * Cornerstone Christian Schools (San Antonio)
 * Holy Cross of San Antonio (San Antonio)
 * Providence Catholic School (San Antonio)
 * San Antonio Christian (San Antonio)
 * TMI Episcopal (San Antonio)

District 6

 * St. Joseph Academy (Brownsville)
 * Incarnate Word Academy (Corpus Christi)
 * John Paul II High School (Corpus Christi)
 * St. Augustine High School (Laredo)
 * St. Joseph High School (Victoria)

District 7

 * Cristo Rey Jesuit College Preparatory (Houston)
 * Cypress Christian School (Houston)
 * The Emery/Weiner School (Houston)
 * Lutheran South Academy (Houston)
 * Second Baptist School (Houston)
 * Westbury Christian School (Houston)
 * British School (Katy)
 * Frassati Catholic High School (Spring)
 * Fort Bend Christian Academy (Sugarland)

Independent

 * Lydia Patterson Institute (El Paso)

District 1

 * Lubbock Christian School (Lubbock)
 * Trinity Christian School (Lubbock)
 * Trinity School of Midland (Midland)

District 2

 * Covenant Christian Academy (Colleyville)
 * Coram Deo Academy (Flower Mound)
 * Temple Christian School (Fort Worth)
 * Gainesville State School (Gainesville)
 * Fellowship Academy (Kennedale)
 * Trinity Christian (Willow Park)

District 3

 * Burton Academy (Arlington)
 * Grace Prep Academy (Arlington)
 * Pantego Christian Academy (Arlington)
 * Cristo Rey (Dallas)
 * The Shelton School (Dallas)
 * All Saints Episcopal School (Tyler)

District 4

 * Hill Country Christian School (Austin)
 * Texas School for the Deaf (Austin)
 * Veritas Academy (Austin)
 * Giddings State School (Giddings)
 * Reicher Catholic High School (Waco)
 * Vanguard College Preparatory School (Waco)

District 5

 * Geneva School of Boerne (Boerne)
 * Lutheran High School of San Antonio (San Antonio)
 * San Marcos Academy (San Marcos)
 * John Paul II High School (Schertz)

District 6

 * St. Thomas Episcopal School (Houston)
 * Bay Area Christian School (League City)
 * First Baptist Christian Academy (Pasadena)
 * Logos Preparatory Academy (Sugar Land)

District 7

 * Lutheran High North (Houston)
 * Northland Christian School (Houston)
 * Faith West Academy (Katy)
 * The Woodlands Christian Academy (Woodlands)

District 1

 * San Jacinto Christian Academy (Amarillo)
 * Calvary Academy (Denton)
 * Calvary Christian Academy (Fort Worth)
 * Lake Country Christian School (Fort Worth)
 * Midland Classical Academy (Midland)
 * Harvest Christian Academy (Watauga)

District 2

 * Lakehill Preparatory School (Dallas)
 * Dallas Lutheran School (Dallas)
 * The Covenant School (Dallas)
 * Yavneh Academy (Dallas)
 * The Highlands School (Irving)
 * Heritage Christian Academy (Rockwall)
 * Texoma Christian School (Sherman)

District 3

 * Faith Academy Marble Falls (Marble Falls)
 * Concordia Academy (Round Rock)
 * Round Rock Christian Academy (Round Rock)
 * Central Texas Christian School (Temple)
 * Live Oak Classical (Waco)

District 4

 * Sacred Heart High School (Hallettsville)
 * Our Lady of the Hills (Kerrville)
 * New Braunfels Christian Academy (New Braunfels)
 * The Christian School at Castle Hills (San Antonio)
 * Keystone (San Antonio)

District 5

 * First Baptist School (Brownsville)
 * Presbyterian Pan American (Kingsville)
 * South Texas Christian Academy (McAllen)
 * Juan Diego Academy (Mission)

District 6

 * Legacy Christian Academy (Beaumont)
 * Brazos Christian School (Bryan)
 * Clear Lake Christian (Houston)
 * Providence Classical School (Spring)
 * The Woodlands Legacy Prep (Tomball/Woodlands)
 * Rosehill Christian School (Tomball)

Independent

 * Faith Christian (El Paso)

District 1

 * Abilene Christian School (Abilene)
 * Ascension Academy (Amarillo)
 * All Saints Episcopal School (Lubbock)
 * Southcrest Christian School (Lubbock)

District 2

 * Cambridge School of Dallas (Dallas)
 * Bethesda Christian School (Fort Worth)
 * North Central Texas Academy (Granbury)
 * Sacred Heart Catholic School (Muenster)
 * Ovilla Christian School (Red Oak)

District 3

 * First Baptist Academy (Dallas)
 * Dallas International School (Dallas)
 * Garland Christian Academy (Garland)
 * Christian Heritage School (Longview)
 * Coram Deo Academy (Plano)

District 4

 * San Juan Diego Catholic High School (Austin)
 * Austin Waldorf School (Austin)
 * Allen Academy (Bryan)
 * St. Joseph Catholic School (Bryan)
 * Holy Trinity Catholic High School (Temple)

District 5

 * Bracken Christian (Bulverde)
 * St. Gerard Catholic High School (San Antonio)
 * St. Paul Catholic High School (Shiner)
 * Faith Academy (Victoria)

District 6

 * Covenant Christian School (Conroe)
 * O'Connell College Prepratory (Galveston)
 * Chinquapin Preparatory School (Highlands)
 * Alpha Omega Academy (Huntsville)
 * The Briarwood School (Houston)
 * Brazosport Christian School (Lake Jackson)

District 1

 * Holy Cross Catholic Academy (Amarillo)
 * Christ the King Catholic School (Lubbock)
 * Kingdom Prep Academy (Lubbock)
 * Plainview Christian School (Plainview)
 * Christ Academy (Wichita Falls)
 * Notre Dame Catholic School (Wichita Falls)
 * Wichita Christian School (Wichita Falls)

District 2

 * Alcuin School (Dallas)
 * The Winston School (Dallas)
 * The Westwood School (Dallas)
 * Faustina Academy (Irving)
 * StoneGate Christian Academy (Irving)

District 3

 * Fairhill School (Dallas)
 * Tyler Street Christian Academy (Dallas)
 * Canterbury Episcopal School (De Soto)
 * Waxahachie Prep (Waxahachie)
 * Weatherford Christian School (Weatherford)

District 4

 * Athens Christian Preparatory Academy (Athens)
 * Northside Christian Academy (Carthage)
 * Full Armor Christian Academy (Henderson)
 * Regents Academy (Nacogdoches)
 * East Texas Christian (Tyler)

District 5

 * Greenville Christian School (Greenville)
 * Longview Christian School (Longview)
 * St. Mary's Catholic School (Longview)
 * Trinity School of Texas (Longview)

District 6

 * Summit Christian Academy (Cedar Park)
 * Cornerstone Christian School (San Angelo)
 * San Angelo Christian Academy (San Angelo)
 * Eagle Christian Academy (Waco)

District 7

 * Gloria Deo Academy (Bulverde)
 * Living Rock Academy (Bulverde)
 * The Heritage School (Fredericksburg)
 * Hill Country Christian School (San Marcos)

District 8

 * Gateway Christian School (San Antonio)
 * Legacy Christian Academy (San Antonio)
 * Trinity Christian Academy (San Antonio)
 * River City Believers Academy (Selma)
 * First Baptist Academy (Universal City)

District 9

 * Macedonian Christian Academy (Alamo)
 * Harvest Christian Academy (Edinburg)
 * Faith Christian Academy (Palmhurst)

District 10

 * Living Stones (Alvin)
 * Faith Academy (Bellville)
 * Oaks Adventist Christian School (Cypress)
 * Covenant Academy (Cypress)
 * The Beren Academy (Houston)
 * Southwest Christian (Houston)
 * St. Francis Episcopal School (Houston)

District 11

 * Baytown Christian Academy (Baytown)
 * Calvary Baptist School (Conroe)
 * Lifestyle Christian School (Conroe)
 * Family Christian (Houston)
 * The Covenant Preparatory School (Kingwood)
 * Community Christian School (Orange)
 * Founders Christian School (Spring)

Independent

 * Jesus Chapel (El Paso)