Susan Saly, right, and Meagan Pierlouissi place flowers at a memorial at Annunciation Catholic Church after Wednesday's school shooting on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, in Minneapolis. (Abbie Parr/AP Photo)
"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 went on, also writing, "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 as well as 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 went on, adding, "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."
A person walks out of the Annunciation Church's school as police respond to a reported mass shooting Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025, in Minneapolis. (Abbie Parr/AP Photo)
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.
MINNEAPOLIS SHOOTING VICTIMS WERE 8 AND 10 YEARS OLD
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."
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"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 currently 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.
Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/unearthed-letter-exposes-how-minnesota-catholic-leaders-warned-walz-school-safety