Portal:Texas/Selected article/24

The University Interscholastic League or UIL is an organization which creates rules for and sometimes administers almost all athletic, music, and academic contests for public elementary and secondary schools in the American state of Texas. Activities range from American football to marching band competitions. The UIL does not administer Academic Decathlon competitions, however. The UIL was originally created by the University of Texas at Austin to provide a rule-making body for athletic and academic events. Its mission, according to the UIL, is to foster good sportsmanship and character building among competitors.

The UIL generally governs only public high schools. Activities for non-public schools are governed by completely separate bodies, the largest of which is the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS). However, non-public schools are allowed to join the UIL if they do not qualify for membership in any other organization. Dallas Jesuit and Houston Strake Jesuit were the first, and thus far only, private schools to have been granted UIL membership 2003.