Since 1969, Minnesota private school children have been eligible for a taxpayer funded transportation stipend. In the 1970s, another taxpayer-paid stipend was added for books, nurses and counselors.
The transportation stipend is $500 to $600 and aid per pupil for textbooks, nurses and counselors is $540 a year, for a grand total of $1,140 per pupil. Statewide, the subsidy amounts to $109 million a year.
Gov. Tim Walz wants to eliminate the subsidy because of a future budget deficit that is estimated at $6 billion …