Minnesota Catholic leaders issued urgent plea to Tim Walz for school safety program

In a resurfaced letter to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the head of the Minnesota Catholic Conference expressed that Catholic and other nonpublic schools were in “urgent and critical need” of security improvements, saying, “Our schools are under attack.”

The plea went unheeded, and two years later, the concerns raised by Catholic leaders materialized when a gunman opened fire on students of a Minneapolis Catholic school while they were attending Mass, leaving two dead and 17 injured.

The letter was first reported on by the Daily Wire and was sent by Minnesota Catholic Conference Executive Director Jason Adkins and Tim Benz, president of the private school advocacy group MINNDEPENDENT. The letter was sent on April 14, 2023, and is still publicly available on the Minnesota Catholic Conference’s website. 

“We are writing on behalf of our respective organizations regarding the urgent and critical need in Minnesota to make sure our schools are secure and safe considering the most recent, and continuing attacks, on our schools in this country and in our state,” the leaders wrote. 

In the letter, the leaders pointed to the mass shooting at Covenant Christian School in Nashville, which had occurred just a week before the letter was sent, saying, “The latest school shooting at a nonpublic Christian school in Tennessee sadly confirms what we already know – our schools are under attack.”

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“In Minnesota, nonpublic schools, particularly our Jewish and Muslim schools, have experienced increased levels of threats, all of which we must take very seriously,” the leaders added. “The tragedy from last week at Covenant School must never happen in Minnesota or in our country again.” 

The leaders expressed serious concern that the 72,000 students enrolled in independent, Catholic, Jewish, Christian and Muslim schools in Minnesota could be in danger due to nonpublic schools being excluded from the $50 million Building and Cyber Security Grant Program and the state’s Safe Schools Program, which provides emergency response training, security upgrades, mental health services and other security measures. 

The leaders said they were especially concerned given “the most recent, and continuing attacks, on our schools in this country and in our state.” 

“We need to ensure that all of schools have the resources to respond to and prevent these attacks from happening to our schools,” the leaders wrote. 

“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 leaders added. “We want to make sure Minnesota is doing everything it can to ensure that all our students are safe and secure. We ask you include $50 million in the final Education Finance bill and allow nonpublic schools to apply for funding.”

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A spokesperson for the Minnesota Catholic Conference confirmed the letter’s authenticity to Fox News Digital. Though declining to comment further, the spokesperson confirmed the requests made in the letter were never granted. 

The spokesperson additionally pointed to additional requests the conference and Minnesota Catholic bishops had made in 2022 to Walz for Catholic and other nonpublic schools to be included in the state’s school safety programs. 

In a June 2022 video, St. Paul-Minneapolis Archbishop Bernard Hebda called on Walz to convene a special session of the state legislature to pass a bill granting permanent funding streams to all schools, including nonpublic schools, for security enhancements, violence prevention and mental health programs, according to Fox 9. 

According to a recent policy document by the Minnesota Department of Education outlining the Building and Cyber Security Grant Program, the program is still only available to cooperative units, school districts or charter schools, excluding nonpublic schools. 

Additionally, according to a statute outlining the Safe Schools Program available on the Minnesota legislature’s website, the funding available to each school corresponds to its tax levy, indicating private schools are not eligible for the funding. 

Walz’s office, however, told Fox News Digital that “private schools do indeed receive state funding” and that “they are also eligible for school safety center resources, including trainings.” 

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Walz’s spokesperson said “the governor cares deeply about the safety of students and has signed into law millions in funding for school safety.” 

The spokesperson further said Walz “meets with the Catholic Conference on a regular basis” and that the governor’s office is “committed to working with anyone who is willing to work with us to stop gun violence and keep our students safe.”

On Tuesday, a 23-year-old born by the name Robert Westman, who later changed his name to Robin Westman, opened fire at a Mass being held at the Annunciation Catholic Church on Wednesday, which was attended by students from the attached school. The attack left two children dead and 17 injured, 14 of whom were children.

FBI Director Kash Patel said the shooter who opened fire in a “barbaric” attack on a Catholic school Mass in Minneapolis left multiple anti-religious references in his manifesto and on his firearms.

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Patel provided the update in a post on X, saying, “As we continue to investigate yesterday’s barbaric attack from Robert [Robin] Westman, the male subject, our teams have gathered information and evidence demonstrating this was an act of domestic terrorism motivated by a hate-filled ideology.

“Subject left multiple anti-Catholic, anti-religious references both in his manifesto and written on his firearms,” Patel said. “Subject expressed hatred and violence toward Jewish people, writing ‘Israel must fall,’ ‘Free Palestine,’ and using explicit language related to the Holocaust.”

The Minnesota legislature is currently considering a school safety law, the SHIELD bill, that would increase state funding for school security systems. As the bill stands, nonpublic schools would not be eligible for the additional security funding afforded if the bill was passed into law. 

Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report.