Minnesota Catholic bishops warned in 2022 and 2023 that non-public schools needed state security funding after deadly shootings elsewhere, and now, two years later, tragedy has hit one of their own.
On Aug. 27, a gunman opened fire during an all-school Mass at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, killing two students, ages 10 and 8, and injuring 14 other students and three adults.
The attack came two years after the Minnesota Catholic Conference urged state officials in 2022 and 2023 to provide security funding and emergency-response training for non-public schools, the National Catholic Register reports.
The appeals, made after the shootings at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, and the Covenant School in Nashville, urged that students in Catholic and other non-public schools be given the same security protections as those in public schools.
“We need to ensure that all our schools have the resources to respond to and prevent these attacks from happening to our schools,” wrote Jason Adkins, MCC’s executive director, in an April 14, 2023, letter to Gov. Tim Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, who are both Democrats. The letter was also signed by Tim Benz, president of a Minnesota independent school organization, the outlet reported.
Had the request been approved, Catholic schools such as Annunciation could have used state funds for security upgrades like reinforced entryways or school resource officers.
But the bishops’ appeals were rejected in consecutive years as related bills stalled in the Legislature, leaving non-public schools without additional security funding—even as Minnesota posted a record $17.6 billion budget surplus in 2023.
Responding to a request for comment, Walz’s office underscored that the governor “cares deeply about the safety of students” and has “signed into law millions in funding for school safety.” The Register confirmed, however, that none of the previously signed funding bills applied to non-public school safety.
Minnesota bishops pushed for school security funding after lawmakers passed “Safe Schools” legislation in 2019 that applied only to public schools, excluding non-public ones.
When a 2022 bill to expand the program stalled, the bishops urged Walz to call a special session to extend the funding, which would have provided $44 per student for security costs at all schools, the Register noted further.
“Although no legislation can stop the manifestation of evil, this Safe Schools legislation is an important, commonsense first step to establishing an ongoing funding source for schools to increase security staff, enhance building security, and strengthen violence prevention programs and mental health initiatives,” Archbishop Hebda wrote in a May 2022 letter.
Walz, himself a former public school teacher, never called a special session, however.
