What Happens to My Child’s IEP if We Use the Georgia Promise Scholarship?

1. What Georgia’s Promise law says about services

The Georgia Promise Scholarship is Georgia’s education savings account (ESA) program, created by the Georgia Promise Scholarship Act (SB 233, 2024). The law has one subsection on what happens to public-school services. Here is O.C.G.A. § 20-2B-22(e), word for word:

“The creation of the program or the granting of an account pursuant to this article shall not be construed to imply that a public school did not provide a free and appropriate public education for a participating student or constitute a waiver or admission by the state. A participating student's resident school system shall not be obligated to provide services to such student that would be required if such student were enrolled in such school system unless the student reenrolls in the resident school system.”

In plain terms:

• The first sentence says taking Promise isn’t a statement that the public school failed to provide your child a free and appropriate public education, and it isn’t “a waiver or admission by the state.”
• The second sentence says that while your child participates, your resident school system (your local district) is not obligated to provide the services it would have to provide if your child were enrolled.
• The exception is re-enrollment: that changes if your child “reenrolls in the resident school system.”

Apart from this subsection and the age-21 rule in section 2, we found no mention of IEPs or disability in the Promise law or GESA’s regulations. What the law means for your child depends on your child, so take individual questions to the people in section 10.

2. Is Georgia Promise an IEP scholarship? No tier, but an age-21 rule

No. Promise is a general scholarship, open to eligible students with or without a disability. Its rules have no disability-based eligibility, priority or amount:

• One amount for everyone: up to $6,500 for the 2026-27 school year, paid in four quarterly payments of $1,625; GESA may withhold up to 5% for administration. Our amount guide explains the details.
• No IEP priority: if applications exceed funds, GESA’s order is current participants, then siblings, then families at or below 400% of the Federal Poverty Level, then former participants, then new applicants above 400%. A disability isn’t part of it.
• The one special-education rule: eligibility lasts until the student returns to public school, graduates or turns 20, or 21 “for special education students” (O.C.G.A. § 20-2B-22(d)). GESA’s regulations define a special education student as one who qualifies for special education services under O.C.G.A. § 20-2-152. For 2026-27, Odyssey says special-education students “must be 5 but no older than 21 by 09/01/2026.”

Every other Promise rule applies the same way to a child with an IEP, including living in the attendance zone of a school on the state’s lowest-25-percent list and two consecutive public-school enrollment counts (or eligibility for kindergarten). Our eligibility and school list guide covers them.

If you searched for an IEP scholarship in Georgia, these are the two programs where an IEP matters. Both pay private-school costs:

Our Georgia scholarships compared guide sets all three side by side.

3. Leaving public school: no part-time enrollment

To take Promise, you sign an agreement not to enroll your child in a public school: a local school, a charter or state charter school, or a completion special school. The only exception is “part-time enrollment in a college and career academy” approved as a Promise service provider (O.C.G.A. § 20-2B-22(a)(8)). Each quarter, before spending, you confirm in Odyssey: “my student is not in public school and will not attend public school while using scholarship funds for this quarter.”

That means part-time enrollment isn’t a way to keep school-based services while using Promise. If those services matter to your family, ask your district what, if anything, it would offer before you leave (section 9). Check the timing with GESA or Odyssey too: each application window is for the next semester, and GESA’s documents describe when to withdraw in different ways.

4. District evaluations (Child Find) and services plans

Georgia’s special education rules (State Board Rules 160-4-7) give school districts duties toward children who aren’t enrolled in public school:

• Child Find: districts must locate and evaluate “all suspected children with disabilities, including those who are homeless, are wards of the State or are attending private schools,” from birth through 21, including “Children who reside in the LEA and are enrolled in home school/study programs” (Rule 160-4-7-.03). An LEA, or local education agency, is usually your school district.
• Private-school and home-schooled children: Rule 160-4-7-.13 says “Children who are home schooled within the jurisdiction of the LEA are also considered parentally-placed private school students for the purposes of this Rule,” and that no such child with a disability “has an individual right to receive some or all of the special education and related services.” Any services come through a “services plan.”
• Evaluation consent: if the parent of a home-schooled or private-school child doesn’t consent to an evaluation, the district “may not use the consent override procedures, and the LEA is not required to consider the child as eligible for services” (Rule 160-4-7-.04).

These rules don’t mention Promise, and we found no Georgia source that explains how they apply to a Promise student. If you want your child evaluated, or want to know what the district offers students who aren’t enrolled, contact your district’s special-education office directly.

5. Before you leave: gather your child’s records

Whatever you decide, keep your own copies of your child’s school records. For a child with an IEP, it helps to have:

• the current IEP, including present levels, goals and accommodations;
• the most recent evaluation or reevaluation report;
• recent IEP progress reports;
• any Section 504 plan;
• public-school enrollment records for the two prior semesters, which the Promise application asks for (except for kindergarten).

These records help when you talk with a private school or tutor, if you later look at the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship, and if your child returns to public school. If you will homeschool, the Declaration of Intent form you file with the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) has an optional box for “any student who is identified as or suspected of needing special education services.” Our guide for Promise homeschool families covers that step.

6. Going back to public school

Promise eligibility lasts until your child returns to public school, graduates or reaches the age limit (O.C.G.A. § 20-2B-22(d)), so returning ends participation. Under § 20-2B-22(e), the district’s obligation to provide services is tied to your child reenrolling in the resident school system. Ask Odyssey what happens to your account before you re-enroll.

For services after a return, talk with the school’s special-education team. If an evaluation or a new IEP is needed, Georgia’s rules set these timelines:

On dyslexia: GaDOE’s Dyslexia Informational Handbook (July 2026) says an outside diagnosis “does not mean the school district must automatically identify the student as a student with a disability,” and that when special education is needed, “dyslexia is categorized as a Specific Learning Disability (SLD).” Our Georgia IEP help page walks through the IEP process and your options if you disagree.

7. Testing and accommodations on Promise

A Promise student who isn’t at a participating private school “shall annually complete a nationally norm-referenced test approved by the Authority or a state-wide assessment” (GESA regulation 17.4). Families upload the test date, test name, scores and “a PDF/image of the official test results” in Odyssey, and “The annual deadline for uploading testing documentation is June 30th.”

• GESA’s Testing 101 guide (July 2026) lists approved tests including Georgia Milestones, i-Ready, NWEA MAP, STAR, Iowa, Stanford 10, TerraNova 3 / NEXT, CTP, CLT, ACT, Pre-ACT, SAT and PSAT.
• GESA’s regulations say school districts may not charge for state test materials, but may charge for the cost of one-to-one accommodations.
• For a child with an IEP, ask the test provider early which accommodations it offers, and keep the official results with your records.

8. Bringing your child’s IEP goals to a Promise tutor

Promise pays for “Tutoring services provided by an educator certified by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission” (GaPSC). Odyssey adds that tutors “may only provide services listed on their certification and for the grade levels covered,” and only core subjects are eligible. The Marketplace’s tutoring categories are by subject, such as English / Language Arts / Reading, Math, Science and Social Studies; Odyssey’s list has no special education tutoring category. A tutor isn’t a replacement for every service in an IEP, but one-to-one tutoring can keep steady work going on academic goals. A few steps help:

1. Share the parts of the IEP that matter for tutoring: present levels, academic goals, accommodations and recent progress reports.
2. Choose two or three priority goals to start with, rather than everything at once.
3. Ask how the tutor will measure progress and how often you’ll hear about it.
4. Check the offering in the Marketplace: it should name the tutor and their certification, and its subject and grades should fit your child.
5. Keep copies of progress updates with your other records.

Therapies are a separate expense: services from a physician or therapist licensed under Georgia law, including “occupational, behavioral, physical, or speech-language therapies,” in their own Marketplace categories. We don’t provide therapy, speech services, evaluations or diagnosis. Special Ed Resource is an approved provider in the Georgia Promise Scholarship Odyssey Marketplace, with approved tutoring offerings there; our tutoring is taught one-to-one online by teachers certified in special education. Our guides to paying for tutoring with Georgia Promise, what Promise pays for and finding a Promise tutor for a child with an IEP cover the next steps.

9. Questions to ask your district before you leave

• Which services does my child receive now, and what would change if we take Promise?
• Would the district evaluate my child while we use Promise, and would it offer a services plan?
• If we come back, how would services restart? Would the team use my child’s current IEP or meet again?
• How do I get copies of my child’s records?
• If my child takes a state test, which accommodations are available, and is there a cost?

Ask in writing if you can, and keep the answers with your records.

10. Where to get answers for your child

• Your district’s special-education office: evaluations, services plans and what the district offers students who aren’t enrolled.
• The Georgia Parent Mentor Partnership: GaDOE describes it as “a collaboration of parents and professionals working together to improve outcomes for students with disabilities,” and lists mentors by county.
• Parent to Parent of Georgia: Georgia’s Parent Training and Information center.
• GaDOE’s dispute options: if you disagree with a district, GaDOE’s dispute resolution page describes facilitated IEP meetings, mediation, state complaints and due process hearings. Your rights are summarized in Your Rights as Parents – Regarding Special Education (updated May 21, 2025).
• GESA and Odyssey, for the scholarship itself: eligibility, your account, and leaving or returning to public school. Contact help@mygeorgiapromise.org or 470-470-7057.

This guide explains public rules; it isn’t legal advice, and it can’t tell you what is right for your child. The people above can look at your child’s records and answer for your family.