Deadline nearing for Georgia students to apply for tuition vouchers

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – The deadline is June 30 to apply for Georgia’s Promise Scholarship Program, which offers private school tuition vouchers for students of low-performing public schools.

Students at the lowest performing 25% of schools are supposed to be eligible to apply for the “Georgia Promise” program.

Forty-two Richmond County schools are included in an updated list of the state’s lowest-performing public schools, but we’ve already determined that every student in Richmond County is eligible because of the way the rules are written.

But the Georgia Education Savings Authority wrote rules saying any student in such a school’s attendance zone is eligible, even if they don’t attend that school.

For example, if a middle school is on the list, elementary and high school students who live in that zone can also apply.

For that reason, all Richmond County students are eligible, even if they don’t attend a school that’s specifically on the list.

Applications opened March 1 at https://mygeorgiapromise.org.

Students are eligible to apply for the $6,500 voucher if:

• They are enrolled in a Georgia public school for the 2024-2025 year or entering kindergarten for the 2025-2026 year.
• The student resides in the attendance zone of a public school included on the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement published list of lower-performing schools.
• The parent has lived in Georgia for at least a year or is an active-duty military member.

Students cannot be recipients of the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship or Georgia Student Scholarship Organization Scholarship.

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