Miami Catholic schools receive $15 million in state security funding after ‘months of advocacy’

Catholic schools in Miami will receive $15 million in security funding from the state government after successful petitioning by Floridaʼs Catholic bishops, the Archdiocese of Miami has announced.

The archdiocese said the eight-figure security package was part of the newly approved state budget, which was passed by legislators in Tallahassee on May 29. The funding came about after “months of advocacy and budget negotiations,” the archdiocese said.

“We prioritize the safety of our students in a day and age that has seen more anti-Catholic violence and generally more violence against schools,” archdiocesan schools Superintendent Jim Rigg said in the announcement.

The archdiocese said that a “broader statewide reimbursement program” for Catholic school security failed to pass the Legislature.

Rigg said in the archdiocesan announcement that schools have been using money to fund security measures “that could otherwise go toward textbooks, technology, and teacher salaries.”

“In some cases, schools are collecting special security fees from parents,” he said.

Catholic schools have increased security amid shooting fears

Numerous Catholic and other Christian schools around the country have lately adopted enhanced security measures, particularly after the August 2025 shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis.

That shooting came after Catholic bishops in Minnesota had petitioned state lawmakers to provide security funding for nonpublic schools; the state government had failed to grant those requests.

Some schools have opted to hire security guards, while others have considered the possibility of allowing teachers to be armed while on campus.

Still others have turned to technology to increase student safety. Trinity Catholic School in Fort Smith, Arkansas, recently adopted an AI-bolstered security system that can spot school shooters and quickly alert law enforcement ahead of a potential mass shooting.

A Catholic school in Ohio has also deployed that system on its own campus.

After the Minneapolis shooting, Jason Adkins, the executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, told “EWTN News In Depth” that school security is “a basic public safety issue that should be available to all students, irrespective of where they go to school.”

“Looking at school safety programs, nonprofit security grants, all these things — we have to take an all-of-the-above approach to looking at public policy solutions that limit gun violence in our communities,” he said.