One metro, two school districts
Each county has one countywide school district, and the county line between them is also a sharp line on the Promise list. The two counties have almost the same number of school-age children, so the difference isn’t about size.
| Richmond County’s district | Columbia County’s district | |
|---|---|---|
| Main communities | Augusta-Richmond County, Hephzibah and most of Blythe | Evans, Martinez, Grovetown and Harlem |
| Listed schools, 2026-27 | 38 | 0 |
| Listed schools, 2025-26 | 42 | 1 |
| Students in special education, fall 2024-25 | 4,019 (14.5% of K-12) | 3,461 (12.3%) |
| Children aged 5–17, July 2025 | 33,175 (+0.7% since April 2020) | 31,888 (+2.3%) |
| Households with broadband, 2020–2024 | 87.6% | 91.6% |
Listed schools: our count of GOSA’s 2026-27 list and the February 14, 2025 list. Special education: GOSA’s fall 2024-25 K-12 counts (full-time-equivalent), which show public-school services, not unmet need or Promise eligibility. Children: Census Bureau Vintage 2025 county estimates. Broadband: American Community Survey 2020–2024. Augusta and Richmond County are one consolidated city-county government, so the city’s and county’s figures are nearly the same thing, not two data points.
What the county line means for Promise
Promise eligibility follows the schools zoned to your home, not your metro area or your mailing city. Your home must be in the attendance zone of at least one listed elementary, middle or high school.
- Richmond County: 38 listed schools, down from 42 on the 2025-26 list. With that many, check all three school levels for your address before assuming either way. Our address check explains the steps.
- Columbia County: no listed schools on the 2026-27 list, so a Columbia County family has no listed school to be zoned to right now (our reading of the rule). Enrolling in a listed Richmond County school doesn’t change that; Odyssey’s guidance says attending a listed school from outside its zone doesn’t count.
- Accepted earlier? GESA’s Family Handbook says a student who was accepted stays eligible even if the zoned school later drops off the list.
- Neighboring counties: Burke County’s district has 3 listed schools (none the year before) and McDuffie County’s has 1 (also new).
GOSA must publish the next list by December 1, 2026; until then, the counts here are from the current list. Families who don’t use Promise can still pay for online tutoring directly; we explain how in the free consultation.
Georgia, not South Carolina
North Augusta and Aiken are across the river in South Carolina. Georgia Promise is a Georgia program: a parent must have lived in Georgia for at least a year (with an exception for active-duty military stationed in Georgia), and the student must come from a Georgia public school or be starting kindergarten. Some providers that serve the Augusta area, including at least one on Georgia’s approved provider list, are based in North Augusta, South Carolina, so check where a provider is when you compare options.
Fort Gordon families
- School Liaison: the Army’s Fort Gordon MWR site lists School Support Services, including “Special Education Supports,” and the Exceptional Family Member Program.
- Free online tutoring: Tutor.com for U.S. Military Families offers free online tutoring, funded by the Department of Defense, to eligible military families.
- Promise rules for military families: Odyssey’s eligibility guidance exempts students in active-duty military families from the two-semester public-school rule and the one-year Georgia residency rule. The attendance-zone rule isn’t among the exemptions it names, so check the schools zoned to your address.
Local options to know about
Checked October 2, 2026. These are separate organizations, not partners of ours.
- Augusta University: Dr. Paulette P. Harris Literacy Center (HUB West, 631 Chafee Avenue): free, grant-funded, one-to-one after-school literacy help in person for students in grades 1 to 12 in the Richmond County service area who are two or more years behind. Its undated page says, “Our free services fill up fast.” If your child fits, it is worth contacting.
- East Georgia GLRS: in the Georgia Department of Education’s last published directory of its regional Georgia Learning Resources System programs (2021, now archived), Richmond and Columbia counties were served by East Georgia GLRS, based at CSRA RESA in Augusta. Its current page does not list districts.
- Parent help: the Georgia Department of Education’s parent mentor list by county and school system and Parent to Parent of Georgia help families with special education questions; Parent to Parent’s help is free.
How we differ: our tutoring is private, online and one-to-one with a teacher certified in special education, open to families on either side of the county line, and it covers math, writing and executive-function skills as well as reading.
Online sessions from an Augusta-area home
Your child joins a live video session from home and works one-to-one with the teacher. Share any IEP or 504 academic goals you want us to focus on, and the teacher plans around them. Broadband is less common in Richmond County (87.6% of households) than in Columbia County (91.6%), so if your connection is patchy, tell us in the consultation and we’ll talk it through honestly.
We tutor reading and dyslexia, math, ADHD and executive function and academic skills for autistic learners. We provide academic tutoring only, not therapy, speech services, evaluations or diagnosis; your school district handles evaluations and IEPs (see our Georgia IEP help page). We confirm a teacher and times with you rather than promising a slot up front.
Paying with Georgia Promise
Special Ed Resource is an approved provider in the Georgia Promise Scholarship Odyssey Marketplace. Families apply through mygeorgiapromise.org and spend Promise funds only in the Odyssey Marketplace. We are not GESA, Odyssey or the State of Georgia.
Promise-funded tutoring must be in a core subject and, in the program regulations’ words, “provided by an educator certified by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission,” and each Marketplace tutoring offering names its certified tutor; we explain which teacher would lead Promise-funded sessions in the consultation. For the 2026-27 school year the scholarship is up to $6,500, paid in four quarterly payments of $1,625, and GESA may withhold up to 5% for administration. Families approved in the August or November 2026 application window receive only the second half of the year’s payments. See Georgia Promise eligibility and the school list and our provider page.
Court status: In August 2026, families filed a lawsuit in DeKalb County Superior Court (Sands v. Green) challenging the rule that students must first attend public school, according to the families’ lawyers and news reports. As of October 2, 2026, we have found no report of a ruling, and the program is operating for the 2026-27 school year. More on the court case.
Sources
- GOSA: 2025 Georgia Promise Scholarship Public School List for the 2026-27 academic year
- GOSA: Georgia Promise Scholarship Public School List, February 14, 2025 (2025-26)
- GOSA: Enrollment by Subgroup Metrics, 2024-25 (special education K-12 counts)
- Odyssey: Who is eligible to apply for the Georgia Promise Scholarship? (updated April 30, 2026)
- U.S. Census Bureau: Vintage 2025 population estimates (county by age; incorporated places)
- U.S. Census Bureau: American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates, table B28002
- Augusta University: Dr. Paulette P. Harris Literacy Center
- Tutor.com for U.S. Military Families
Local figures and links checked October 2, 2026.