ST. PAUL — Legislative bills to provide funds for all Minnesota schools to add more security measures in their buildings are moving forward with bipartisan interest and support from a variety of faith leaders.

“Both public and private schools should have the resources they need to keep their students and staff safe. There is strong bipartisan interest to create safer school environments because that is important to everyone,” said Dist. 15B Rep. Paul Torkelson, R-Hanska.

The need for student safety was urged in a Feb. 20 letter to the House Education Finance Committee from seven faith leaders including Minnesota Catholic Conference Executive Director Jason Adkins and Lutheran Schools Executive Sean Martens.

“We are submitting this letter to highlight the urgent need in Minnesota to make sure students in all our schools are secure and safe, particularly given recent horrific attacks in Minnesota and across the country,” read the letter.

There are about 72,000 students enrolled in Independent, Catholic, Jewish, Christian, Lutheran, and Islamic nonpublic schools in Minnesota. As you know, too many of our schools have experienced security issues, read the letter.

Since 2020, private 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. This legislative was reintroduced this year under House File 3493, among several bills appropriating funding for safe schools.

“Legislation aimed to protect and allocate funding to some schools but not all only makes the schools who are unfunded as vulnerable against future tragedies. This is unacceptable,” read the letter.

Minnesota House Bills 3529 and 3493 were among those introduced and first read in the House and referred to the House Education Finance Committee Feb. 19.

Safe schools revenue must be reserved and used for funding 10 a drug abuse prevention program in elementary schools, gang resistance education training curriculum, voluntary opt-in suicide prevention tools, violence prevention measures, licensed school counselors, nurses and psychologists, facility enhancements including laminated glass, emergency communications devices, mental health services delivered by tele-medicine and cybersecurity measures.

Senate File 3930 was introduced and first read in the Senate and referred to the Senate Education Finance Committee Feb. 26.

The bill aims to enhance education finance in Minnesota by increasing safe schools revenue and expanding school schools aid to include charter and non-public schools. It mandates non-public schools receiving funds to prepare annual reports detailing expenditures on qualifying safety activities.

Legislation with bigger movement challenges include a bill to establish an independent Office of Inspector General (OIG) with investigative power and enforcement authority, not subject to direction or intervention by state agencies, is fully opposed by House Democrats, Torkelson said.

He said another bill bans the sale, transfer and possession of nearly all semi-automatic, military-style rifles in Minnesota and provided criminal penalties. The bill was introduced and sent to the House Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee Feb. 17.

Torkelson said another bill limits firearms magazine capacity to 10 rounds.

Sen. Gary Dahms, R-Redwood Falls, said a legislative action plan to stop fraud in Minnesota’s public support services and restore accountability in state government was rolled out by Senate Republicans.

He said the plan focuses on three objectives: stricter legislative oversight, smarter use of technology to verify services, and stronger accountability of taxpayer dollars.

“Bills in this area expand electronic visit verification, require recipients to confirm services are provided and create a ‘do not pay’ list for individuals or entities ineligible for state payments,” said Dahms. “I think Gov. Walz and both sides of the aisle (both political parties) realize he has to give the federal government the information it wants to get the funding he needs and get things moving. Personal information like who is receiving (federal) assistance has been redacted, so it should be given out. It will be interesting.”

Dahms said said even though the Minnesota Management and Budget shows a $3.7 billion surplus at the end of fiscal year 2027, $1.3 billion more than what was projected in November’s forecast, the budget needs adjustment and policies need to be prioritized.

“The forecast shows that our state still spends more than it collects. This session, we must adjust the budget and prioritize policies that put Minnesotans first,” he said.