Teacher, Pastor, File Suit Over Language in Charter Schools Amendment

Opponents of Amendment 1, which provides for a Charter Schools Commission, have long criticized the language of the ballot itself as misleading.

Senate Democrats criticized the latest move by proponents of a November charter schools ballot amendment today, calling a new ballot preamble "biased, inaccurate and electioneering at its worst."

"As it was written in March, the charter schools question on the November ballot was misleading. The addition of a preamble to the ballot question heightens the inaccuracy," said Senate Democratic Leader Steve Henson of Tucker. "The preamble language adds to the bias and subjectivity of what citizens will be voting on. The language intends to mislead voters in an effort to ensure a specific outcome. This is not democracy."

Now, a Dalton teacher and an Atlanta pastor have filed a lawsuit against Gov. Nathan Deal, Lt. Gov Casey Cagle and Secretary of State Brian Kemp, requesting the amendment not to be enforced, even if voters approve it. The suit was filed in Fulton County Superior Court, according to a story in the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

The ballot language and a preamble that describes it are “affirmatively and purposely misleading,” says a lawsuit filed by Rev. Timothy McDonald, senior pastor at Atlanta's First Iconium Baptist Church, and teacher Beverly Hedges, who has been teaching for 22 years, according to the story.

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