Judge Rules Water Authority Grant Constitutional After Changes

In October 2024, the West Virginia Water Development Authority gave an economic development grant to an out of state college for a worker training program. 

The College of St. Joseph the Worker, in Steubenville, Ohio, has ties to the Catholic church. Graduates would have been required to earn a degree in Catholic studies. 

The ACLU of West Virginia and the American Humanists Association sued. 

In July Kanawha Circuit Judge Richard Lindsay ruled the grant was unconstitutional. 

Thursday, the college said it plans to alter its degree program so students will receive a degree in philosophy. The college also specified that no funds would be used for religious education or educator salaries. As much as one-third of the original grant was to be used for those purposes.

The water authority changed its documentation that “the grant will be used only for the purposes of ‘real estate acquisition, site development, construction, infrastructure improvements, and supplies and equipment for workforce training and all necessary appurtenances thereto in compliance with the WVWDA grant agreement.”

In his order, after those changes, Lindsay said, “… as long as a state-approved grant is used for non-religious purposes and is a benefit available to the public, said grant is constitutional.”