Georgia reveals lowest-performing schools as school choice program rolls out

The Georgia Governor’s Office of Student Achievement (GOSA) has published a list of schools eligible for the state’s education savings accounts program.

For students to be eligible for Georgia Promise Scholarships, they must be zoned for a public school in the bottom 25% for academic achievement, according to the state’s website. In addition, students must have attended one of these public schools for at least two consecutive semesters or be entering kindergarten.

The majority of the 505 schools on the list of poorest achievers are located in or near Metro Atlanta, including 45 schools in the Dekalb County School District and 31 in Atlanta Public Schools. Richmond County, where Augusta is located, has 42 schools on the list. The number of schools on the list has decreased from the 581 from the list that was provided earlier this year.

GOSA plans to release the list of eligible school zones for new program applicants on Dec. 1 of each year, according to the handbook. While the schools change from year to year, students in the school choice program will not need to reapply and are “eligible to receive funds until returning to a public school, graduating from high school, moving out of Georgia, or reaching the age of 20.”

The online application is expected to open early in 2025 with students being approved as early as July 1. Students from families with incomes below 400% of the federal poverty level will be given priority in the program’s first year.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed the law establishing the program in April.

The Georgia Promise Scholarship Act was first introduced in 2022 as the Georgia Educational Freedom Act, but it did not get voted on in that legislative session. It was reintroduced in 2023 as the Georgia Promise Scholarship Act, and it was passed in the Senate. However, when it reached the General Assembly, 16 Republicans voted against the measure, killing the legislation.

However, the Legislature voted to reconsider it for 2024, and seven Republicans and one Democrat flipped to vote in favor.

By the time the measure passed, all states surrounding Georgia had approved ESA programs. Florida and Tennessee passed bills establishing ESAs in 2019. South Carolina passed its program in 2023, though the state’s supreme court halted the program in September 2024. Alabama passed its program in early March, followed by Georgia several weeks later.