In First Amendment Clash, Christian Center Sues Georgia School District Alleging Retaliation

For more than a decade, Vidalia High School students in Georgia took courses at Sweet Onion Christian Learning Center as part of a partnership. Now the center and the Vidalia City School District are clashing in a federal First Amendment lawsuit.

The school district terminated the longstanding agreement with the Christian center after its founder, the Rev. Gady Youmans, criticized a proposed school board tax hike, and after the superintendent raised concerns about the center’s “particular interpretation” of the Bible, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia on Friday.

The center and Youmans are represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, a national religious freedom legal group.

“Every American has the right to publicly criticize the government—that’s what makes the First Amendment guarantee of free speech so special and the envy of the world,” ADF legal counsel Mercer Martin said in a statement.

“Vidalia City Schools can’t punish Rev. Youmans—or his ministry providing high school students with free religious education—for simply sharing his opinion of a proposed tax hike. We are urging the court to reinstate Sweet Onion’s released-time program and restore Rev. Youmans’ constitutional freedoms.”

“Released time” means when students are released from school during school hours for clubs or other activities. The Supreme Court has held since 1952 that noncompulsory, nontaxpayer-funded religious instruction can occur during such time, as it does not violate the Establishment Clause of the Constitution.

The Daily Signal left voicemail messages with Vidalia City Schools Superintendent Sandy Reid and the district’s community relations office seeking comment. Neither responded. The school district website did not list an email contact.

The complaint shows that Reid objected to a Facebook post by Youmans that caused an “outpouring” from staff for offending teachers in the district.

The school board approved the agreement in December 2014, and students first began taking courses at the center in September 2015. Youmans taught courses including Biblical Finances, Survey of the Old Testament, Survey of the New Testament, Biblical Psychology, and Comparative Religions. Students were able to receive dual-enrollment credit from Brewton-Parker Christian University for some classes.

According to the complaint, the arrangement was satisfactory until September 2025, when Youmans objected to a Board of Education property tax increase and specifically raised issues about how much top school administrators were being paid. He noted 17 administrators, one coach, and one teacher were paid a combined $2.2 million.

When someone replied to his post that children aren’t being educated at the center, Youmans replied, “My students told me today, ‘We have to educate ourselves in several classes. You actually teach.’”

The lawsuit further states that at a November 2025 school board work session, Reid provided a report on the center that “parents have previously expressed concerns about the course content, specifically a perception that some instruction reflected a particular interpretation of the Bible rather than presenting information in a neutral or well-balanced manner.”

“On Feb. 5, 2026, Superintendent Reid sent Rev. Youmans an email informing him that Vidalia City Schools would no longer permit the Center to operate the released-time education program for Vidalia High students,” the lawsuit states.