Walz Hit With Federal School Safety Suit

(PatriotNews.net) – Minnesota’s school-safety money is at the center of a new legal fight after nonpublic faith-based schools say the state is leaving their kids exposed while funding protection elsewhere.

Quick Take

Judicial Watch filed suit against Gov. Tim Walz in federal court, arguing Minnesota’s security programs unlawfully exclude nonpublic schools serving about 72,000 students.
The dispute focuses on state programs such as the $50 million Building and Cyber Security Grant Program and Minnesota’s Safe Schools Program, which are structured around public districts and levy-based systems.
Catholic and other nonpublic-school leaders say they warned the governor in 2022 and again after the Nashville Covenant School shooting in 2023, but were denied access to comparable security support.
Walz’s office disputes the premise, saying nonpublic schools receive some state support and trainings, creating a factual disagreement the court may need to sort out.

What the lawsuit says Minnesota is denying nonpublic schools

Judicial Watch’s complaint targets Minnesota policies that limit certain security resources to public school districts and charters, leaving nonpublic schools outside the primary grant structure. The group argues that exclusion is not a technical oversight but a choice with real consequences for religious and other private institutions. The lawsuit points to nonpublic schools that include Catholic, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities, and frames the dispute as an equal-protection issue involving student safety.

The core policy flashpoints include Minnesota’s $50 million Building and Cyber Security Grant Program and the Safe Schools Program. Reporting summarized in the research states the grant program is aimed at public districts and charters, while the Safe Schools Program relies on emergency training and related support tied to levy-based structures. Because private schools generally do not operate under the same levy authority, they can be excluded by design even when they face similar threats.

Warnings after major shootings and local threats

The timeline highlighted in the research begins before the lawsuit. In June 2022, St. Paul–Minneapolis Archbishop Bernard Hebda called for a special legislative session to fund security for all schools, including nonpublic institutions. After the Nashville Covenant School shooting on March 27, 2023, Minnesota Catholic Conference executive director Jason Adkins and MINNDEPENDENT president Tim Benz sent a letter dated April 14, 2023, urging funding to protect nonpublic students.

That April 2023 letter cited heightened concerns across religious communities, including reported threats that had placed Jewish and Muslim schools on alert. The lawsuit and related reporting also point to a subsequent shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic school described as occurring roughly two years after the 2023 appeal, killing two people and injuring 17. The available research does not provide an exact date for that incident, which limits precision when assessing the state’s timeline of responses.

Walz’s response and the factual dispute at the heart of the case

Gov. Walz’s office rejects the claim that nonpublic schools are simply abandoned. According to the research summary, Walz’s office says private schools receive some state funding and trainings and that the administration is committed to school safety and gun-violence prevention efforts. That response sets up a key factual dispute: whether the state’s existing “some assistance” is meaningfully comparable to the dedicated security funding streams available to public schools.

That distinction matters because the suit is not merely about whether any support exists, but whether nonpublic schools can access the major security tools on equal terms when risks rise. If the principal grants and programs are structured to exclude nonpublic institutions outright, “trainings” and indirect support may not resolve the central complaint. The research does not provide program-by-program participation data, so a full comparison may require discovery and court review.

The SHIELD bill debate and why it matters beyond Minnesota

The case arrives as Minnesota lawmakers consider a measure described in the research as the SHIELD bill, which would add new security funding while still excluding nonpublic schools. That legislative detail is important because it suggests the public-only structure is not accidental or temporary. If lawmakers reaffirm the exclusion in a new bill, it strengthens the argument that nonpublic families are being treated as second-class when it comes to basic campus protection.

Judicial Watch has also pursued other equal-protection and government-accountability actions in recent years, and the research notes additional litigation activity involving Walz-related issues. Whether this Minnesota school-safety case becomes a broader precedent will depend on how the federal court evaluates the state’s justifications and how “equal protection” applies to security programs designed around public funding mechanisms. For families choosing religious education, the practical question remains simple: will the state help protect their children the same way?

Judicial Watch – Judicial Watch Sues Gov. Tim Walz over Refusal to Provide Security for Nonpublic Schools – https://t.co/l08aVDGFFp

— Deen Coldwell III (@deen_iii) March 11, 2026

For conservatives who watched years of “equity” rhetoric dominate education debates, this case is a test of whether equal treatment is real when it involves faith-based communities rather than fashionable political causes. The research shows the state defends its approach as consistent with existing statutes and funding structures, while nonpublic leaders argue those structures ignore modern threats. Until the court rules, the outcome is uncertain, but the underlying tension is clear and unresolved.