Minnesota’s non-public schools have received state aid for decades, but a cloudy budget picture could put an end to that

For 55 years, the state of Minnesota has distributed money to help students who attend non-public schools, payments for transportation, textbooks, curriculum, school nursing and counseling.

What one private school principal called “a long-standing tradition” has been upheld as constitutional by the state Supreme Court as not violating prohibitions on giving state money for a private purpose, supporting sectarian schools and the ban on state establishment of religion.

But perhaps for the first time since transportation help was adopted in 1969 and other student aids were passed in 1975, it is being threatened with cancellation. Gov. Tim Walz’s proposed budget for the two-year period starting July 1 would zero out $109 million in non-public school aid — about 0.4% of the state’s education budget. It is part of a budget that reduces spending for this upcoming budget, which is projected to have a surplus to prepare for a budget beginning in 2027 that faces a $5.1 billion projected shortfall.

One Walz proposal is for the state to pay only 95% of special education transportation costs for public schools rather than 100%. But that is a cut, not an elimination. In addition to the money cut from private schools, the proposal repeals the statutes that created and regulate the programs.

“We were completely blindsided,” said Tim Benz, the president of MINNDEPENDENT, an association of more than 180 non-public schools in the state. “We had no idea that this was in the works.” Benz said that he has spoken with private school officials with longer experience on the issue and none could recall an attempt to repeal the program, though it did face cuts during budget deficits.

The transportation aid was signed by a Republican governor, Harold LeVander. The aid for curriculum and counseling was signed by a DFL governor, Wendell Anderson.

“These have been around for more than five decades, they’re not controversial, they’ve endured through legislative makeups on either side and budget situations,” Benz said. “The full elimination of the funding and the statute was pretty remarkable.”

The services are delivered by local school districts who are compensated with state money. Nurses and counselors who work with non-public school students are usually employees of the district. Textbooks, standardized tests and curriculum are chosen and purchased by the district, Benz said. Home-schooled students are also eligible for the aid.

Non-public schools enrolled in the federal and state school breakfast and lunch programs are eligible for the universal free meals program adopted in 2023. That will not be affected by the Walz proposal.

Non-public school officials have swarmed two legislative committee hearings to protest the cuts that one said would have “a seismic impact on students and families.”

“This is not a debate about public and private education,” Quentin Moore, the vice president of advancement at Ascension Catholic School in north Minneapolis, told the House Education Finance Committee. “It is about educational freedom, fiscal responsibility and ensuring every scholar and family has critical tools and resources to pursue prosperity and excellence.”

“Please do not allow the governor to discriminate against non-public students,” Meg Forgette, an associate director in the office for Catholic education with the diocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, told the Senate committee. “We are saving the state education system a significant amount of money each year. So why, then, would it make sense to cut the non-public school aid program as well as non-public transportation?”

In anticipation of the testimony that would follow his budget presentation to the House, state Education Commissioner Willie Jett called the proposal cuts a starting point meant to trigger conversations about the issues.

“The November forecast has laid an important task ahead of us,” Jett told the House committee. “How do we maintain our priorities to fund Minnesota’s public education system with the responsibility to balance our state’s budget?” Other cuts involved alternative teacher compensation known as QComp, and special education transportation.

“But let me be clear, as the governor has stated, this is a starting place for a conversation around this incredibly important and difficult task,” Jett said, adding that the conversations should include other ideas for spending reductions.

Education Minnesota, the union representing public school teachers and staff, endorsed the cuts to non-public education.

“In a time of great budget shortage, we support the cut to the non-public pupil aid,” said union lobbyist Kate Lynne Snyder.

There are 460 non-public schools in the state with more than 73,000 students. For the 2022-23 school year, Minnesota reported 870,000 students enrolled in public schools.

Rep. Ben Bakeberg, R-Jordan, the vice chair of the House Education Finance Committee, is the principal of Jordan Middle School who has three children in public schools. But he has also been a principal of a private school, Heritage Christian Academy in Maple Grove. He said all of the cuts proposed by Walz are disturbing, including the elimination of non-public school aid, especially in light of the massive increases in spending in the current biennium.

“We continue to grow the Department of Education, we continue to grow bureaucracy,” Bakeberg said. “The governor is proposing a $170 million cut to schools.”

The items purchased with non-public student aid are not religious in nature, but the same materials and services as are provided in public schools, he said. 

“It is nursing, it is counseling services, it is textbooks, it is transportation,” Bakeberg said. “I don’t care where you go to school, those are just common sense things. We need to be supporting kids.

“I will not support any bill that has that in it,” Bakeberg said. “It is a non-starter for me.”

Peter Callaghan

Peter Callaghan covers state government for MinnPost. Follow him on Twitter @CallaghanPeter or email him at pcallaghan@minnpost.com.

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