As the Minnesota Legislature looks toward a June special session to finalize the budget, the state’s Catholic bishops are amplifying their call for passage of school choice legislation.

“I’m here to tell you that right now your voice is needed in support of school choice,” Bishop Andrew Cozzens says on a video that can be seen along with resources for reaching lawmakers and about school choice legislation on the Minnesota Catholic Conference’s website at mncatholic.org/action-alert-pass-school-choice-now.

Many public schools remained shut down last spring with only distance learning as an option in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. But Catholic schools opened their doors and remained open, providing students with safe, healthy, in-person learning, said Bishop Cozzens, vicar for Catholic education in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

“Unfortunately, too many young people were not able to go to school this past year. They didn’t have the same opportunities, and they fall into that ever-widening achievement gap,” Bishop Cozzens said in the video.

Every family should have a choice about where to send their children to school, and the financial assistance needed to make that choice real, the bishop said. In addition to in-person learning, Catholic schools provide moral teachings that are important to children’s growth, he said.

“Not only are too many children stuck in schools that are not meeting their educational needs, but all too often they are in classrooms that are awash in lessons that are contrary to basic human dignity, and the morals which parents are trying to instill in their children when they are at home,” Bishop Cozzens said.

“Right now, there are solutions on the table,” he said in the video. “Which your lawmakers, including Gov. (Tim) Walz, have within their reach to provide any number of school choice options, including education savings accounts and tuition tax credits that will help provide parents, especially low- and middle-income parents, with realistic opportunities to choose the right educational option for their child.

“You can make a difference for school choice. You can make a difference for your own children, for your neighbor kids, for your grandkids, for every child who has no one to advocate for them.

“Speak out now. Share this video with your friends and families. Encourage everyone to go to mncatholic.org/actioncenter . … And tell our lawmakers that kids need school choice and we can’t wait for it any longer,” Bishop Cozzens said.