1. What the Georgia Promise Scholarship is
The Georgia Promise Scholarship Program is a state scholarship created by Senate Bill 233 in 2024, the “Georgia Promise Scholarship Act” (O.C.G.A. § 20-2B-20 and the sections that follow). It first applied to the school year that began July 1, 2025, so 2026-27 is its second school year. It is often called the Promise Scholarship or simply Georgia Promise.
GESA’s Family Handbook calls it “the State’s new education savings account program,” and the law calls each student’s account a “consumer directed account.” News coverage often calls it Georgia’s school voucher program. Whatever the name, it works the same way: your child’s funds are held in an Odyssey account, and you direct them to approved private schools, service providers and vendors in the Odyssey Marketplace.
| Who | What they do |
|---|---|
| Georgia General Assembly | Wrote the law (SB 233, 2024) and sets the program’s money in the state budget. |
| Georgia Education Savings Authority (GESA) | Runs the program and adopts its rules. GESA is “a companion entity to the Georgia Student Finance Commission (GSFC).” The current regulations took effect July 1, 2026. |
| Odyssey | The program manager. Families apply, upload documents, opt in each quarter and spend funds through Odyssey, and Odyssey pays the schools and providers. |
| Governor’s Office of Student Achievement (GOSA) | Publishes the list of public schools in the lowest 25 percent, by December 1 each year. The list is now posted on the Governor’s Office of Education and Workforce Strategy website and on the program site. |
| Approved providers and vendors | Private schools, tutors, curriculum sellers and others whose offerings are approved for the Marketplace. Georgia law says a provider “shall not be deemed an agent of the state or federal government as a result of participating in the program or accepting account funds” (§ 20-2B-23(g)). |
About 13,500 students started the 2026-27 school year with the scholarship, up from about 8,700 the fall before, according to The Current GA (September 30, 2026). That is a news figure, not an official count. GESA’s annual report to the General Assembly is due by December 1 each year and covers the previous fiscal year.
For families of children with IEPs, 504 plans, dyslexia, ADHD or autism, two points matter most. First, Promise is a general scholarship: there is no disability tier and no extra money for an IEP. Second, accepting it changes what your local school system must provide (see section 7).
2. Who qualifies for the Georgia Promise Scholarship
Under the law (§ 20-2B-22(a)) and the 2026-27 regulations, all of these must be true:
- Georgia residency. The parent has lived in Georgia for at least one year. Active-duty military families stationed in Georgia within the previous year are an exception.
- Public school first, or kindergarten. The student is enrolled now, and has been continuously enrolled, in a Georgia public school for a period that includes at least two consecutive enrollment counts (Odyssey’s plain-English version is “two consecutive semesters”). The other route is being eligible for public kindergarten, often called a “rising kindergartener.”
- The attendance zone. The student lives in the attendance zone of a public school on the state’s lowest 25 percent list. Living in the zone is what counts; attending a listed school from outside its zone is not enough.
- No overlapping scholarship. The student is not receiving the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship, or any scholarship, tuition grant or other benefit from a student scholarship organization (SSO).
- A signed parent agreement. The parent agrees to teach at least reading, grammar, mathematics, social studies and science, not to enroll the student in a public school, and to spend the funds only on qualified expenses.
Students enrolled in a Department of Juvenile Justice school are not eligible. Students in active-duty military families are exempt from the two-semester and one-year residency rules, according to Odyssey. For 2026-27, Odyssey says students must be 5 but no older than 20 by September 1, 2026, or no older than 21 for special-education students, and kindergarteners must be 5 but younger than 7 by that date.
There is no disability requirement. Income matters: in 2026, families above 400% of the federal poverty level could be considered only in the March and May windows, and only when there was enough money for families under that line. When there are more applicants than funds, families at or below 400% come ahead of new applicants above it. Our eligibility and school list guide walks through every rule and how to check the list.
3. How much the Georgia Promise Scholarship pays in 2026-27
| Item | 2026-27 school year |
|---|---|
| Maximum per student | Up to $6,500 |
| How it is paid | Four quarterly payments of $1,625: July 2026, October 2026, then January and April |
| Administrative withholding | GESA may withhold up to 5% of the approved annual amount |
| Applied in the August or November window | Funding for the second half of the school year only (from on or around January 1) |
| Unused funds | Up to 50% of the funds deposited for the current school year roll over |
| Extra amount for a disability | None: every student has the same maximum |
The program site says that for the 2026-27 academic year, the scholarship provides “up to $6,500 per eligible student, paid in four quarterly installments.” The law set $6,500 for the program’s first school year and ties later years to a formula based on the state’s Quality Basic Education (QBE) funding (§ 20-2B-24(a)). The amount for future school years has not been published. The funds are not treated as taxable income to the parent (§ 20-2B-24(c)). Our 2026-27 amount guide explains each rule with examples.
4. What the Georgia Promise Scholarship pays for
Georgia law and the 2026-27 regulations list the “qualified education expenses” Promise can pay (§ 20-2B-21(10)). In short:
- Tuition, fees and required textbooks for eligible courses at a participating private school, an accredited community college or other postsecondary institution, or a nonpublic online learning program or course.
- Tutoring “provided by an educator certified by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission” (GaPSC). GESA’s provider handbook adds that only core subjects are eligible.
- Curriculum, including required supplemental materials, as approved by GESA.
- Services from a physician or therapist licensed under Georgia law, including occupational, behavioral, physical and speech-language therapies.
- Transportation: up to $500 a year for 2026-27, paid to a fee-for-service transportation provider.
- Account-management fees, other expenses authorized by the State Board of Education or GESA, and individual expenses approved by a majority of the parent review committee.
Services or products billed by family members are not covered, after-school care is not eligible, and Odyssey sets price caps on devices such as laptops and tablets. Our guide to what Georgia Promise pays for has the full breakdown.
5. How families spend the funds
The Family Handbook describes the path from award to spending:
- Your child receives an award.
- You complete the program opt-in.
- Before spending each quarter, you complete the Quarterly Opt-In (new for 2026-27).
- Funds arrive in your child’s Odyssey account each quarter.
- You browse the Odyssey Marketplace and direct funds to private schools, service providers or vendors.
Three rules shape everything else:
- Marketplace only. The Family Handbook says “Families will not be reimbursed for any purchases made outside of the Marketplace, with the exception of eligible transportation expenses.” Odyssey says this includes tutoring services.
- Don’t pay first. Odyssey’s advice is plain: “Do not pay any invoices out of pocket if you plan to use your Georgia Promise Scholarship funds for that purchase.”
- Orders are hard to undo. Odyssey keeps a “No Cancelation Policy” for products and services; a service order is cancelled only if the vendor authorizes it, and refunds go through Odyssey.
Tutoring paid with Georgia Promise must be provided by an educator certified by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission (GaPSC), and each Marketplace offering names its tutor. Our guide to paying for tutoring with Georgia Promise walks through ordering in the Marketplace step by step.
6. Applying and keeping the scholarship
Families apply through the official program site, mygeorgiapromise.org, which leads to the Odyssey application. Parents apply themselves; a provider like us can’t apply for you or see your application. Each window is for the next semester:
| 2026 family window | Starts funding | Who is considered |
|---|---|---|
| March 1–31, 2026 | Fall semester (full school year) | All eligible families, in priority order |
| May 1–31, 2026 | Fall semester (full school year) | All eligible families, in priority order |
| August 1–31, 2026 | Spring semester (second half of the year) | Families at or below 400% of the federal poverty level |
| November 1–30, 2026 | Spring semester (second half of the year) | Families at or below 400% of the federal poverty level |
Approvals are not made until after a window closes. GESA must publish next year’s application periods by December 15, 2026; as of October 2, 2026 they have not been posted.
You will need a photo ID, proof of residency (such as a utility bill, lease or mortgage statement), an income document (such as your most recent federal Form 1040, or SNAP, Medicaid, TANF, LIHEAP, SSDI or SSI documents) and public-school enrollment records for the two prior semesters (not needed for kindergarten). Because GESA’s documents word the timing differently, confirm with Odyssey exactly when to withdraw your child from public school.
To keep the scholarship once you have it:
- Quarterly Opt-In. Each quarter, before spending, you 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 every year, or your child loses participating-student status.
- Annual testing. Students not at a participating private school take an approved nationally norm-referenced test or a statewide assessment each year, and families upload the results by June 30.
Our application and deadlines guide covers each step, appeals and the approved tests.
7. What the Georgia Promise Scholarship means for an IEP
This is the most important section for families of children with IEPs. The Promise law, § 20-2B-22(e), says, 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: while your child uses Promise, your resident school system “shall not be obligated to provide services” it would have to provide if your child were enrolled there, unless your child re-enrolls. Promise students also may not enroll in public school, even part time, except at an approved college and career academy. The only special-education rule in the Promise law is the age limit: a student who qualifies for special education services can stay eligible until age 21.
Georgia’s Child Find rule requires school districts to locate and evaluate suspected children with disabilities, including children attending private schools and children who live in the district and are enrolled in home study programs (State Board Rule 160-4-7-.03). The rule doesn’t mention Promise. What any of this means for your child depends on your situation, so before you accept an award, talk with your school district, a Georgia Parent Mentor or Parent to Parent of Georgia, the state’s parent training and information center. Our guide to Georgia Promise and your child’s IEP goes further.
8. Other Georgia scholarships, and why you can’t combine them
Georgia has two other programs that families often compare with Promise. They work very differently:
| Program | Who it’s for | What it pays |
|---|---|---|
| Promise Scholarship (GESA) | Eligible students zoned to a lowest-25-percent school, with or without a disability | Up to $6,500 for 2026-27 for qualified expenses bought in the Odyssey Marketplace |
| GSNS (Georgia Department of Education) | Students with an IEP, or a Section 504 plan for a listed condition, who meet its own prior-school-year rule | A participating private school with a physical Georgia campus; the state’s report gives a 2024-25 average award of $7,767 |
| SSO tax-credit scholarships | Students attending a qualified Georgia private school, through a student scholarship organization | Tuition at that private school |
GSNS is the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship. A student who receives either GSNS or an SSO scholarship cannot also receive Promise, and a parent may not seek either one while the student participates (§ 20-2B-22(a)(6)–(7)). Home-school students are not eligible for GSNS. Our Georgia scholarships comparison sets the programs side by side.
9. The lawsuit: Sands v. Green
In August 2026, families filed a lawsuit, Sands v. Green, in DeKalb County Superior Court, according to the families’ lawyers and news reports. In an August 25, 2026 press release, their lawyers at the Thomas More Society said they filed it together with an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order, arguing that the program’s eligibility rules “unconstitutionally force religious families to set aside their beliefs.” The suit challenges the requirement that a student first attend public school. Atlanta News First reported that Chris Green, president of the Georgia Student Finance Commission, is named as the defendant.
As of October 2, 2026, we have found no report of a hearing or a ruling. The program is operating for the 2026-27 school year under its current rules, including the public-school requirement. On the legislative side, a 2026 bill to widen Promise eligibility (SB 445) did not pass, according to the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute.
We don’t predict how or when the court will rule. This section is dated, and we update it when the status changes.
10. Who to contact, and where we fit
| Your question | Who to contact |
|---|---|
| Your application, award, account, Quarterly Opt-In or a Marketplace order | The Odyssey Support Team for Georgia Promise: help@mygeorgiapromise.org, 470-470-7057, or the Odyssey Georgia help center |
| An appeal of an eligibility decision | help.ga@withodyssey.com (start within 60 calendar days after the application window closes) |
| Your child’s IEP, special education rights or services | Your school district, a Georgia Parent Mentor, or Parent to Parent of Georgia |
| Tutoring for your child | Our team: book a free consultation or call (844) 773-3822 |
Special Ed Resource is an approved provider in the Georgia Promise Scholarship Odyssey Marketplace. We are not GESA, the Georgia Student Finance Commission, Odyssey or the State of Georgia. Our 40+ teachers are certified in special education and provide one-to-one academic tutoring online; we don’t offer therapy, speech services or evaluations. Read more about us as a Georgia Promise provider, or use our Georgia Promise help and contacts guide for official links.