Report Details Schools Request Before Tragedy

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz had $17.6 billion in budget surplus cash in 2023 — and yet when Catholic schools asked for just a sliver of that to protect their students from violence, he said no. Twice.

According to the National Catholic Register, the Minnesota Catholic Conference, which represents all six dioceses in the state, formally asked the governor in both 2022 and 2023 for a modest security grant. Their request wasn’t out of left field. In fact, it followed the horrifying 2023 school shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville — a private Christian institution where three children and three adults were gunned down by a 28-year-old who identified as transgender.

The letter to Gov. Walz was direct: “Our schools are under attack.” And with 72,000 students attending nonpublic schools — Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, and Christian — the plea was straightforward: Don’t exclude them from the state’s sweeping $50 million Building and Cyber Security Grant Program.

But they were excluded. Completely.

Public schools got their grants. Catholic schools and other nonpublic institutions were shut out, despite being full of Minnesota families who pay the same taxes as everyone else. And despite bipartisan support in the House, Gov. Walz refused to call a special session to push the bill forward. The request wasn’t even radical — $44 per student for basic security. For reference, that’s about the cost of a single pizza party or a basic backpack — and it could mean the difference between life and death.

While refusing that minimal funding, Walz was busy spending taxpayer dollars to declare Minnesota a “trans refuge state” — a move that used state money to help people, including minors from other states, obtain so-called gender-affirming care.

That’s where his priorities were.

Now, fast forward to a heartbreaking incident at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis. Two dead, 14 injured — all victims of a shooter who identified as transgender. The same category of individuals Walz prioritized for taxpayer-funded sanctuary, while denying basic protection to the very schools now under fire. Literally.

It’s hard not to see the painful irony here. One side asked for help. The other side had the power — and the budget — to offer it. But the response was silence.