Religious, educational groups urge legislators to provide additional state funding for school safety

Years before the Annunciation shooting, religious and education groups called on Gov. Tim Walz to push for additional state funding to keep their students safe.

In April 2023, following the Covenant School shooting in Tennessee, the Minnesota Catholic Conference and Minndependent wrote a public letter asking the governor for help to include them in a proposed $50 million school safety program.

“Our schools are under attack,” it read, asking the governor to “include all schools as eligible for funding, whether they are public, charters or nonpublic schools.”

The state legislature never passed the bill despite a nearly $18 billion surplus. 

Max Schachter founded Safe Schools for Alex, a database that provides parents with detailed information about the safety of K-12 schools across the country. It tracks metrics including discipline figures and incidents related to weapons violations.

Scachter’s son Alex is one of 17 victims killed in the Parkland school shooting on Valentine’s Day 2018.

“It was obviously concerning for me when I couldn’t find any recent data on what was happening inside of Minnesota schools,” said Schachter. “I hope that Minnesota increases the funding schools need help, but they need legislation. We didn’t just do one thing after Parkland. We’ve passed seven school safety bills every year.”

In a new statement, Minndependent, said “We are actively engaging legislators and are hopeful the upcoming special session delivers funding to make every Minnesota school safer for our students, educators and staff.” 

“Private schools do indeed receive state funding. They are also eligible for school safety center resources, including trainings,” a spokesperson for Walz said.

Scachter hopes Minnesota lawmakers will make moves to protect students and staff at all schools through prevention, response and recovery.

The Trump adiminstration has announced it is awarding $110 million to assist faith-based organizations and nonprofits to strengthen security.

The money will be administered through FEMA’s nonprofit security grant program.