One College Wants to Build Up the Workforce. The ACLU Won’t Let It

E arlier this month, the ACLU of West Virginia declared victory after claiming to have blocked a $5 million grant to the College of St. Joseph the Worker, a Catholic trade school based in Ohio. But the celebration was premature — at best. The real story is a telling example of how religious institutions continue to be targeted for exclusion from public life, despite clear legal precedent protecting their equal treatment.

The College of St. Joseph the Worker, located in Steubenville, Ohio, offers an innovative model of higher education. Students train in skilled trades such as carpentry, HVAC, plumbing, and electrical work while also pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Catholic studies. St. Joseph’s, as one administrator told the College Fix, seeks to restore “the original model of the university system, which integrates faith and reason, set up by the Catholic Church.”

That integrated mission resonated with the West Virginia Department of Economic Development, which in October 2024 awarded St. Joseph’s a $5 million grant from the state’s Economic Enhancement Grant Fund (EEGF). Established by the legislature in 2022, the EEGF allows the state to fund infrastructure projects that advance economic development or tourism.

St. Joseph’s original proposal was robust. It included establishing a construction and real estate company to train apprentices through hands-on work on culturally significant revitalization projects in West Virginia, offering scholarships to in-state students, building training facilities, and opening a satellite campus. It also included $1 million to develop a bioethics center and a “Center for the Common Good” focused on life-affirming public policy. Importantly, St. Joseph’s pledged to match the public funds — doubling the total investment to $10 million.

In January, the ACLU of West Virginia — on behalf of the American Humanist Association — sued, alleging that the grant violated the state constitution’s establishment clause. Specifically, they pointed to Article III, Section 15 of the West Virginia Constitution, which bars compelling any person to “frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry.” The complaint denounced the college’s “manifest, explicit religious purpose,” arguing that its Catholic identity made it ineligible for public support.

But that argument runs afoul of U.S. Supreme Court precedent. As attorneys for the West Virginia Development Authority rightly argued in a motion to dismiss, the grant is plainly constitutional: It serves the state’s legitimate interest in workforce development. Denying the college access to public funds solely because of its religious identity would itself raise serious constitutional concerns under both the establishment clause and the free exercise clause.

The Supreme Court has been clear on this point. In Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer, the Court struck down Missouri’s exclusion of a church preschool from a public benefit program. “The exclusion of Trinity Lutheran from a public benefit for which it is otherwise qualified, solely because it is a church, is odious to our Constitution,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority.

That principle has been reaffirmed in Espinoza v. Montana Dept. of Revenue, which held that states cannot exclude religious schools from private tuition programs, and again in Carson v. Makin, where the Court struck down Maine’s exclusion of “sectarian” schools from a rural education program. “A State need not subsidize private education,” Roberts wrote in Espinoza, “but once a State decides to do so, it cannot disqualify some private schools solely because they are religious.”

Despite the ACLU’s public claims, the court has not blocked the grant to St. Joseph’s. At a July 9 evidentiary hearing, the state judge declined to rule on the ACLU’s request for injunctive and declaratory relief as confirmed in a written order issued July 18. The court instead ordered the state to provide documentation clarifying what the college can and cannot use the grant funds for. That’s a far cry from invalidating the grant or ruling that St. Joseph’s is ineligible to participate in the program.

The case is yet another example of continued opposition among some progressives over the role of religion in public life. The ACLU’s attempt to disqualify St. Joseph’s on the basis of its Catholic identity would unfairly exclude faith-based institutions from public programs even when their work serves a clear secular purpose. If successful, such efforts would have far-reaching consequences — not just for religious organizations but for the communities they serve. In this case, West Virginia’s own workforce development would suffer.

The College of St. Joseph the Worker offers exactly the kind of high-skill, high-purpose training that states say they want to promote. The Constitution does not prevent the government from partnering with institutions like St. Joseph’s because they are founded upon faith. Instead, it safeguards the right of faith-based institutions to do so openly — and equally.