Two years before a gunman opened fire on children attending morning Mass at Annunciation Catholic School, Catholic and independent school leaders across Minnesota pleaded with Gov. Tim Walz for help protecting their students.
The money was there. The warnings were clear. Nothing was done.
Leaders urged Walz to act amid budget surplus
In April 2023 — as Minnesota had an $18 billion budget surplus — MINNDEPENDENT president Tim Benz and Minnesota Catholic Conference (MCC) executive director Jason Adkins sent a letter to Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, urging them to ensure nonpublic schools were included in the governor’s proposed $50 million “Building and Cyber Security Grant Program.”
They called the need “urgent and critical” given “recent, and continuing attacks on our schools in this country and in our state.”
“Since 2020, nonpublic schools have been advocating to be part of the Safe Schools Program that provides funding to school districts for emergency response training, security upgrades, mental health services, and security resources,” they wrote.
“The legislation supported by our collective organizations provides state aid to school districts, intermediate school districts, charter schools and nonpublic schools for this program. Unfortunately, this program currently does not cover nonpublic schools, charter schools and intermediate school districts and it is a levy-only program for school districts.”
Concerns followed mass shootings in Uvalde and Nashville
Appeals were made in both 2022 and 2023 and stressed that students in Catholic and other nonpublic schools deserve the same security protections as those in public schools, the National Catholic Register reported.
“The latest school shooting at a nonpublic Christian school in Tennessee sadly confirms what we already know – our schools are under attack,” Benz and Adkins wrote in 2023. They pointed out that about 72,000 students attend independent, Catholic, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim nonpublic schools across Minnesota.
Despite that warning — sent just weeks after a shooter killed six at Covenant School in Nashville — funding was never authorized.
“If MCC’s request had been granted, Catholic schools like Annunciation would have been able to use state funds for enhancements like secure entries to facilities or even to hire school resource officers,” according to the National Catholic Register.
Funding never materialized despite surplus
Adkins told The Daily Wire on Wednesday that Walz expressed sympathy in private meetings but failed to act.
“It’s a lack of will to do it by elected officials, coupled with opposition by some legislators because nonpublic school students were included in the funding,” he said, noting Minnesota had an $18 billion surplus in the 2023-24 session.
The letter also argued that leaving religious and independent schools out of security programs amounted to discrimination.
“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 wrote.
Days after the letter was sent, Walz signed a law making Minnesota a “trans refuge state,” promising to shield those seeking gender-transition procedures from other states’ laws, the Daily Wire observed.
Meanwhile, Gov. Walz threatened to cut funding for transportation services, textbooks, and school counseling for nonpublic students during the 2025 legislative session but was unsuccessful.
Annunciation shooting fulfills feared scenario
The tragedy that unfolded Wednesday morning was exactly what school leaders feared. The shooter — identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman, who in 2020 legally changed his name from Robert after court filings said he “identifies as a female” — opened fire through stained-glass windows at Annunciation Catholic Church.
Two children were killed, and 18 others wounded, most of them students.
Alpha News reached out to Gov. Walz’s office for comment but has not received a response.
Jenna Gloeb
Jenna Gloeb is an Edward R. Murrow Award-winning journalist, media producer, public speaker, and screenwriter. Most recently, she worked as a reporter and on-air host for CCX Media. Jenna is a Minnesota native and resides in the Twin Cities with her husband, son, daughter, and two dogs.
