College of St. Joseph the Worker (@collegeofstjosephtheworker) / Instagram
A lawsuit that seeks to block a Catholic trade school in Steubenville, Ohio, from receiving a $5 million grant to expand into West Virginia will move forward after a judge recently ruled against the school’s motion to dismiss.
According to The Parkersburg News and Sentinel, the West Virginia Water Development Authority (WDA) had awarded the grant in 2024 to the College of St. Joseph the Worker. Located near the Ohio-West Virginia border, the trade school had proposed to use the funds to open a construction, real estate company, and branch in West Virginia; create scholarships for West Virginia students; and add other features to the program.
The American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia opposed the grant by filing a lawsuit in January, arguing that the grant violates the state constitution by using taxpayer money to support a religious institution, going against the separation of church and state, The Parkersburg News and Sentinel reported.
However, the WDA argued that the grant funds economic development by adding people trained in the trades to the workforce, further adding that denying the grant on the basis of religion would violate the US Constitution’s establishment and free exercise clauses.
“The Authority saw an opportunity to support a program that would train tradesmen who would ultimately contribute to West Virginia’s economy and fill a need in West Virginia’s workforce, as the Legislature wanted,” Solicitor General for the West Virginia Attorney General’s Office Michael Williams stated, according to The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. The attorney general’s office is representing the WDA.
The WDA filed a motion to dismiss April 25, a move that the ACLU-WV challenged May 16, asking Kanawha County Circuit Court Judge Richard Lindsay not to dismiss the lawsuit. The Parkersburg News and Sentinel reported that Williams once again asked Lindsay to dismiss the lawsuit May 23, arguing that the ACLU-WV did not have standing to sue and claiming that it did not give the state 30 days notice of its intent to sue.
According to a June 23 Instagram post from the ACLU-WV, Lindsay ultimately ruled against the WDA and St. Joseph, allowing the lawsuit to progress.
“Our case challenging a $5 million grant in water development funds to a ‘radically Catholic’ school in Ohio can move forward,” the ACLU-WV said in its post. “Thousands in West Virginia lack clean water. Forcing them to fund this school’s religious mission with money meant for infrastructure is wholly inappropriate.”
CatholicVote previously reported that St. Joseph opened in 2024 with a mission to provide an affordable Catholic education in the trades, including carpentry, electrical training, plumbing, and HVAC.
