Georgia Promise Scholarship Spring Deadline Is Nov. 30

MACON, Ga. — Georgia families thinking about using the state’s private school voucher for the spring semester are running short on time. Applications for the spring 2027 term of the Georgia Promise Scholarship close Nov. 30.

The program, created by lawmakers in 2024, covers state-approved costs of private schooling or homeschooling for students who leave a public school. Many parents are still unsure whether they qualify, and school choice advocates have been fielding questions about the rules ahead of the deadline.

Eligibility hinges on where a student lives and where they go to school now. A student must have spent the last two straight semesters in a Georgia public school, or be a rising kindergartner, and live in the attendance zone of a school ranked in the bottom 25% of public schools by the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement. A parent must have lived in Georgia at least a year, with an exception for active-duty military families who transferred in during the past year.

Income matters more in the spring. For the spring semester, only households earning no more than 400% of the federal poverty line are considered for enrollment, under the state law that created the program. Fall applicants are generally not sorted by income unless there are more applicants than money.

For the 2026-27 school year, the award is capped by law at $6,500 per student and is paid in four quarterly installments. Families can put it toward tuition and fees at a private school, tutoring, required books, curriculum, therapy services, transportation and other approved costs. The Georgia Education Savings Authority, which runs the program, may hold back up to 5% for administration.

Once accepted, families do not have to reapply each year but may need to complete a short annual re-verification, and students must take yearly tests to stay in the program. A student who moves to another district inside Georgia stays eligible. Applications are taken on the program’s website through Nov. 30.

Filed under: Atlanta GA Education News