Catholic and private school leaders in Minnesota warned Governor Tim Walz in 2023 that nonpublic schools were in “urgent and critical need” of security funding — a plea that resurfaced after a tragic shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic school left two people dead and seventeen injured. In the April 14, 2023 letter, Jason Adkins of the Minnesota Catholic Conference and Tim Benz of MINNDEPENDENT urged Walz to extend safety resources to nonpublic schools, declaring, “Our schools are under attack.”

The letter, published by the Daily Wire and still available on the Catholic Conference website, cited the mass shooting at Covenant Christian School in Nashville just a week earlier as evidence of growing threats to faith-based institutions. The leaders noted that Jewish, Muslim, and Christian schools in Minnesota had faced increased threats and warned that excluding nonpublic schools from state safety programs endangered 72,000 students. They requested $50 million in the final Education Finance Bill to allow nonpublic schools to access the state’s Building and Cyber Security Grant Program and Safe Schools Program, which provide funding for security upgrades, mental health services, and emergency response training.

Their appeals, however, went unanswered. Despite prior requests in 2022 from Minnesota bishops and Archbishop Bernard Hebda for statewide inclusion of private schools in safety funding, the programs remain closed to them. State policy still restricts eligibility to public school districts, charter schools, and cooperative units, as private institutions lack a tax levy base. In response, Walz’s office told Fox News that private schools do receive some state support and are eligible for training resources through the Minnesota School Safety Center. “The governor cares deeply about the safety of students and has signed into law millions in funding for school safety,” a spokesperson said.