New lawsuit calls charter schools amendment ballot language into question

• Max Blau
• Vincent Fort speaks out against the proposed charter school amendment.

Next Tuesday, Georgia voters across the state will cast a ballot on amendment one, which asks the question: “Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to allow state or local approval of public charter schools upon the request of local communities?”

For months, opponents have claimed that the ballot measure’s language — written Gov. Nathan Deal, along with Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, and Secretary of State Brian Kemp — misleads voters. Yesterday, a Dalton teacher and an Atlanta pastor continued to press the issue, filing a lawsuit against those three officials over the wording.

Both plaintiffs, Beverly Hedges and Rev. Timothy McDonald, have essentially requested that the Fulton County Superior Court ignore the amendment. Gerry Weber, the attorney representing Hedges and McDonald, says that his clients won't see the amendment as legitimate — even if Georgians vote yes on the referendum.

“What the ballot should do is give a balanced presentation of the content of the constitutional amendment,” Weber, the former legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, told the AJC yesterday.

In addition to the ballot question, a brief preamble describes the constitutional amendment as a measure that "provides for improving student achievement and parental involvement through more public school options.”

Jane Langley, spokeswoman for the anti-amendment group Vote Smart Georgia, has argued for moths that both the ballot question and preamble are “terribly misleading.”

"There’s nothing in the law that provides for better student achievement or parental involvement,” she says.