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Read the full article from Kare 11.
Kare 11: Annunciation Church shooting sparks conversation about state support for religious school security
The Annunciation Church shooting this week has sparked broader conversations in Minnesota about whether the state should provide more financial support to private and religious schools, particularly around security measures.
According to a spokesperson for the Minnesota Department of Education, the state is already providing roughly $110 million in funding over the next two years in supplemental aid to private-school students, "freeing up room on their bottom lines to fund student safety, wellness, or other priorities." At the urging of House Republican leaders, the legislature successfully prevented cuts to this nonpublic school aid in the next budget cycle.
However, after a shooter killed two young kids and injured more than a dozen others in south Minneapolis this week, a 2023 letter from the Minnesota Catholic Conference about school security has resurfaced both on social media and among some national news outlets. In that letter to Gov. Walz, written not long after the shooting at a private Christian school in Nashville, the Minnesota Catholic Conference and the group MINNDEPENDENT said "the tragedy from last week at Covenant School must never happen in Minnesota or in our country again" and that "we need to ensure that all of schools have the resources to respond to and prevent these attacks from happening to our schools."
Specifically, the organizations asked Walz and the legislature to include nonpublic schools in the state's Building and Cyber Security Grant program and made another request for inclusion in the Safe Schools program.
"An attack on any school, whether it is a public, nonpublic, charter or another school site, cannot be tolerated or allowed to happen in Minnesota," the two groups wrote in that letter.
The Minnesota Catholic Conference declined to comment on the 2023 letter in light of this week's shooting. However, Ethan Roberts with the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas — which partners with the Minnesota Catholic Conference in lobbying efforts at the Capitol — said the Annunciation Church shooting highlights the importance of bolstering support for security measures at religious institutions.
While organizations are eligible for a federal Nonprofit Security Grant Program through the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA, they also rely on the state to provide support.
"I hope that when we come back for the next legislative session, that there will be more support on a bipartisan, bicameral basis and from the governor's office to increase funding for the nonprofit supplemental security grant program," Roberts said. "These are all our kids. They're all our babies... We're not looking to government to take on 100% of the burden, far from that. But there's just so much need and it gets worse every day. We're looking to the government, they're a partner already, but to do even more."
In a statement, a spokesperson for Gov. Walz noted that nonpublic schools already receive millions in state funding and said the governor meets regularly with the Minnesota Catholic Conference.
"Private schools do indeed receive state funding. They are also eligible for school safety center resources, including trainings," the governor's spokesperson said. "We remain committed to working with anyone who is willing to work with us to stop gun violence and keep our students safe."
Gov. Walz is likely to call a special session in September in response to the Annunciation Church shooting. It's not clear if nonpublic school aid will be part of the conversation among lawmakers, or if that discussion would need to wait until the next regular session in February 2026.