The state of Georgia recently launched the Georgia Promise scholarship, a program that will provide eligible students with the opportunity to use up to $6,500 in public funds for non-public (private) education expenses. Eligible uses of the funding, which can be used by students from kindergarten to 12th grade, include private school tuition and tutoring services, along with several other qualified education expenses.
The program is only open to students who reside in a public school attendance zone that is in the lower 25% of all public schools in the state and have been there for at least one academic year OR are a rising kindergarten student in that zone. Parents must have been Georgia residents for at least a year, as well, with exceptions for active-duty military personnel.
This week, the Georgia Governor's Office of Student Achievement (GOSA) released a full list of eligible schools statewide, outlining the students for which the program will be available.
Bulloch County schools included in the list are:
- Langston Chapel Elementary School
- Sallie Zetterower Elementary School
- Statesboro High School
- Stilson Elementary School
See the full list here. Please note that after the initial list was published on November 27, GOSA "became aware of outliers in the CCRPI calculation that impacted the calculations for the Promise Act list of schools" and revised the list. The schools above are from the updated list, which is current as of December 4, 2024.
For the first year of the program, which will be the 2025-2026 academic year, the scholarship amount is set by law at a maximum of $6,500 per student. The Georgia Education Savings Authority may withhold up to 5 percent of the scholarship proceeds for administrative purposes. The online application portal is expected to open in early 2025.
You can view the Promise Act calculation guide here for additional information on how Georgia schools were evaluated.
For more information about the Promise Act, please visit mygeorgiapromise.org.
