Who Qualifies for the Georgia Promise Scholarship? Requirements and the 2026-27 School List

1. Georgia Promise requirements at a glance

The eligibility rules are in the Promise law (§ 20-2B-22(a)) and section 4 of the 2026-27 regulations. A student must meet all of them:

One thing is not required: a disability or an IEP. Promise is a general scholarship with no disability tier.

2. Living in Georgia for a year (and the military exception)

The parent must have lived in Georgia for at least one year. The exception is for active-duty military families stationed in Georgia within the previous year. Odyssey adds that students in active-duty military families are exempt from both the one-year residency rule and the two-semester public-school rule.

When you apply, you prove residency with a document such as a utility bill, lease, mortgage statement, or deed or HUD statement, along with a photo ID. Moving within Georgia later does not end your child’s participation; moving out of Georgia does.

3. Public school first, or starting kindergarten

The law requires that the student “is currently enrolled and has been continuously enrolled in a Georgia public school for a period of time that includes at least two consecutive enrollment counts.” Odyssey and GESA describe this in plain English as “two consecutive semesters.” You’ll upload public-school enrollment records for the two prior semesters with your application.

The other route is kindergarten. A child who is eligible for public kindergarten (a “rising kindergartener”) does not need prior public-school enrollment. For 2026-27, Odyssey says kindergarteners must be 5 but younger than 7 by September 1, 2026.

Who this leaves out:

• Current homeschoolers and private-school students. GESA’s Family Handbook says students coming from public school “may elect to homeschool,” but current homeschoolers do not qualify unless they meet the public-school requirement. The same rule applies to a child already in private school.

Charter and online public schools. Charter, online and some other schools are left off the school list, but that exclusion applies only to the list. For the enrollment rule, Odyssey says a student must be enrolled in “any Georgia public school” for two consecutive counts. If you’re unsure how your child’s school counts, ask the program’s support team before you apply.

This public-school requirement is the rule challenged in the lawsuit Sands v. Green. As of October 2, 2026, we have found no report of a ruling, and the requirement applies for 2026-27. Our overview explains the lawsuit.

4. The attendance-zone rule: you must live in the zone

This is the rule families most often get wrong. Eligibility depends on where you live, not where your child goes to school. Odyssey’s eligibility article (updated April 30, 2026) says:

“If you reside in the attendance zone of at least one school, you meet the attendance zone eligibility requirement. It is not based upon the public school the student attends.”

GESA’s Family Handbook gives the same instruction from the other side:

“Check for ANY schools in the attendance zone you reside in (i.e., the elementary, middle, and high school). Note that a student does NOT need to be actively attending the school to be eligible.”

What that means in practice:

• Check every school your home is zoned to, elementary, middle and high, not only the one your child attends now.
• Attending a listed school is not enough. Odyssey says a student who attends a listed school while living outside its zone does not meet the requirement.
• Once accepted, the zone stops mattering. The Family Handbook says an accepted student stays eligible even if the zoned school later drops off the list.

5. The lowest 25 percent school list for 2026-27

The list comes from the law (§ 20-2B-29). Each year the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement (GOSA) identifies the public schools “that performed in the lowest 25 percent of all public schools based on the cumulative individual school ratings” for the two most recent school years, and it must publish the list by December 1. GESA and Odyssey call these lower-performing schools; the list is not a ranking.

The school systems with the most listed schools on the 2026-27 list, by our count:

Some large systems have only a few listed schools: Fulton County has 8 and Cobb County has 6. Certain kinds of school are left off the list entirely, according to the list’s FAQ: state charter, locally authorized charter and conversion charter schools; online or virtual schools; alternative schools; schools serving only PreK through 2nd grade; residential treatment and Department of Juvenile Justice schools; the state schools for the blind and deaf; magnet schools; and schools missing the years of scores needed.

The list changes each December. A school can come off or go onto the next list, so check the list that applies to the window you are applying in. As of October 2, 2026, the state website still shows an older list dated February 2025 (based on 2023 and 2024 scores) as its main list document; for 2026 applications, use the 2026-27 list linked in this guide.

6. How to check whether your address qualifies

1. Write down every public school your home address is zoned to: elementary, middle and high. Your school district can confirm your zoned schools.
2. Open the official 2026-27 school list (PDF) on the program site. The same list is on the state website.
3. Find your school system. Schools are grouped by district in alphabetical order.
4. Look for each of your zoned schools by name. If any one of them is on the list, your address meets the zone requirement.
5. Run Odyssey’s eligibility pre-screen, linked from the program site, to check the other requirements.
6. If anything is unclear, ask the Odyssey Support Team before the window opens: help@mygeorgiapromise.org or 470-470-7057.

Families apply only through the official program site, mygeorgiapromise.org, which leads to the Odyssey application. The last 2026 family window is November 1–30, 2026, for the spring semester. Our application and deadlines guide covers the steps and documents.

7. Income and priority

Georgia’s Promise law includes a family income limit of 400% of the federal poverty level, with an exception for families above it when there is enough money. Income affects when a family can be considered and where it stands if there are more applicants than funds.

• Spring-semester windows. The program site says “Only applicants who have a household income level at or below 400% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) will be considered for enrollment in the Spring Semester.” The August and November windows are for the spring semester.
• Fall-semester windows. In 2026, families above 400% could be considered only in the March and May windows.

When applications exceed the money available, the regulations (Regs 6.2–6.3) set this order:

1. participating students;
2. siblings;
3. families with income at or below 400% of the federal poverty level;
4. former participants who are reapplying; and
5. new applicants above 400% of the federal poverty level.

Random selection is used within the last group considered, and awards are not first-come, first-served. You prove income with your most recent federal Form 1040, or SNAP, Medicaid, TANF, LIHEAP, SSDI or SSI documents. We don’t list a dollar figure for 400% of the federal poverty level here, because it depends on household size and the current federal guidelines. If you’re unsure where your household falls, ask the program’s support team.

8. Scholarships you can’t combine with Promise

A Promise student may not be receiving, and the parent may not seek while the student participates, either of two other Georgia programs (§ 20-2B-22(a)(6)–(7)):

• The Georgia Special Needs Scholarship (GSNS). This separate program is for students with an IEP, or a Section 504 plan for a listed condition. It is paid to a participating private school with a physical Georgia campus, and home-school students are not eligible for it.
• Student scholarship organization (SSO) scholarships, the tax-credit scholarships that pay tuition at a qualified Georgia private school.

If your child has one of these now, compare carefully before you switch. Our Georgia scholarships comparison sets them side by side.

9. Leaving public school: the parent agreement

To accept the scholarship, the parent signs an agreement (§ 20-2B-22(a)(8); Regs 7.2) to:

• teach “at least the subjects of reading, grammar, mathematics, social studies, and science”;
• not enroll the student in a public school, whether a local school, a charter school, a state charter school or a completion special school (the only exception is part-time enrollment in a college and career academy approved as a service provider); and
• use the funds only for qualified education expenses.

The law also says that “upon acceptance of the account, the parent assumes full financial responsibility for the education of the participating student” (§ 20-2B-22(b)). Families choose one of three settings: a participating private school, a non-participating private school, or a home study program that meets Georgia’s homeschool law (§ 20-2-690(c)). Our guide for homeschool families covers the home study route.

Leaving public school also affects special education services. The Promise law says: “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” (§ 20-2B-22(e)). Our guide to Georgia Promise and your child’s IEP quotes the full section and explains where to get advice. GESA’s documents word the timing of withdrawal differently, so confirm with Odyssey exactly when to withdraw your child from public school.

10. How long eligibility lasts

Under § 20-2B-22(d) and Regs 4.2, a participating student stays eligible until the student returns to public school, graduates, or turns 20. For a special-education student, meaning one who qualifies for special education services under Georgia law (§ 20-2-152), the age limit is 21. That age limit is the only special-education rule in the Promise law.

Staying eligible also means keeping up with the program’s yearly steps:

• Quarterly Opt-In: before spending each quarter, confirm your student “is not in public school and will not attend public school while using scholarship funds for this quarter.”
• Recertify by May 31 each year, or your child loses participating-student status.
• Annual testing: students who are not at a participating private school take an approved nationally norm-referenced test or a statewide assessment, and families upload the results by June 30.
• Follow the rules: a parent who does not comply “shall forfeit the account” (§ 20-2B-22(h)).

Moving within Georgia doesn’t end participation; moving out of Georgia does. Our application and deadlines guide covers each of these steps, and our Georgia Promise overview explains the program as a whole.