TL;DR: The $6,500 Georgia Promise Scholarship goes only to students zoned to public schools on the state's lowest-performing list, or starting kindergarten. For 2026-27 that list includes 112 schools in the five big metro systems, 52 of them in DeKalb. The next application window runs November 1-30.
Which metro Atlanta school systems have Promise-eligible schools for 2026-27?
Five do. DeKalb County has 52 schools on the list, Atlanta Public Schools 31, Gwinnett 15, Fulton County Schools 8 and Cobb 6, for 112 in all. By our count of the state's PDF, the statewide list for 2026-27 has 506 entries, so roughly one listed school in five sits in these five systems. City Schools of Decatur and Marietta City Schools have no schools on it.
The list is the 2025 Promise Scholarship public school list, which the Governor's Office of Student Achievement (GOSA) builds from cumulative school ratings and which applies to the 2026-27 academic year. A student meets the zoning test if any school their address is assigned to, whether elementary, middle or high, appears on it.
| School system | Schools on the 2026-27 list | Preliminary Promise recipients, July 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| DeKalb County | 52 | 872 |
| Atlanta Public Schools | 31 | 276 |
| Gwinnett County | 15 | 238 |
| Fulton County | 8 | 288 |
| Cobb County | 6 | 151 |
The recipient counts in the right column are preliminary first-year figures that WSB-TV reported in summer 2025, before the state finished checking enrollment records, so treat them as a snapshot rather than a final tally.
Which neighborhoods do the listed schools serve?
Mostly the south and east sides of the metro. DeKalb's 52 include Cedar Grove, Columbia, Lithonia, McNair, Stone Mountain and Towers high schools, the Redan middle and elementary schools, and, farther north, Clarkston High and Doraville United Elementary. In Atlanta Public Schools the list takes in Booker T. Washington, Carver, Frederick Douglass, D. M. Therrell and South Atlanta high schools plus 25 elementary, middle and other schools.
Gwinnett's 15 include Berkmar, Meadowcreek and South Gwinnett high schools and the Norcross and Lawrenceville elementaries. Fulton County Schools' 8 are in south Fulton, among them Tri-Cities High and Woodland Middle. Cobb's 6 are Mableton, Norton Park, Riverside, Sedalia Park and Green Acres elementaries and Pearson Middle.
Because the test is the zoned school, two houses on the same street can fall on different sides of it, which is why we tell families to look up all three zoned schools rather than going by a neighborhood's reputation.
Is a Promise zone the same thing as a Promise school?
No. The zone list names public schools whose attendance zones qualify a child, and the participating list names the private schools that can be paid. 120 private schools in our four-county directory are on that second list. The two lists answer different questions: the first decides whether your child can get an account, and the second decides where the tuition money can go.
Here is how the participating private schools split across the four counties in our directory: 37 in Fulton, 38 in DeKalb, 24 in Cobb and 21 in Gwinnett. A family zoned to a listed DeKalb school can use the account at a participating school in Cobb or North Fulton, because the private school's location doesn't matter. What a Promise zone is not: a guarantee of a seat, a tuition discount, or anything that applies to a child who left public school more than two semesters ago, unless they're entering kindergarten.
How many metro students used Promise in its first year?
Statewide, 20,217 students applied between March 1 and December 12, 2025 and 7,744 qualified, at an estimated cost of about $55 million against $141 million set aside, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. That left the program well short of its budget, and the governor's office says the fiscal 2027 budget provides $100 million for it.
The early metro numbers show demand concentrated where the listed schools are. In the preliminary July 2025 count, DeKalb had more recipients than any other system in WSB's report, and the five metro systems together accounted for 1,825 of the students named there.
How do you check your own address before November?
Use your district's school locator to get your zoned elementary, middle and high schools, then search for each one on our Promise zone lookup. GESA's pre-screen tool on mygeorgiapromise.org runs the same check alongside the residency and enrollment questions.
If one of your schools is listed, the next step is the November 1-30, 2026 window for spring 2027, which is open only to households at or below 400% of the federal poverty level. If you're above that line, plan for the spring 2027 windows instead, keeping in mind that by then a new GOSA list will be in force. Our Promise program page walks through the other requirements.
Will the Promise zone list change before fall 2027?
Probably. GOSA releases a new list at the end of each calendar year, and it governs applications in the following year, so the March and May 2027 windows will run on a newer list than this fall's. GESA's program timeline says the list released in December applies to the following calendar year, the same way the December 2025 list applies to 2026.
For a family already approved, the change doesn't remove the scholarship. The program recertifies students each year, and a child who moves within Georgia stays in. The list matters most to families applying for the first time.
Frequently asked questions
Which metro Atlanta school systems have Promise-eligible schools for 2026-27?
Five do. DeKalb County has 52 schools on the list, Atlanta Public Schools 31, Gwinnett 15, Fulton County Schools 8 and Cobb 6, for 112 in all.
Is a Promise zone the same thing as a Promise school?
No. The zone list names public schools whose attendance zones qualify a child, and the participating list names the private schools that can be paid. 120 private schools in our four-county directory are on that second list.
Will the Promise zone list change before fall 2027?
Probably. GOSA releases a new list at the end of each calendar year, and it governs applications in the following year, so the March and May 2027 windows will run on a newer list than this fall's.
Related questions
- Promise zone lookup for every metro school
- Who qualifies for the Promise Scholarship?
- Private schools by community
- The November window checklist
Sources
- Georgia 2025 Promise Scholarship Public School List for the 2026-2027 Academic Year (GESA)
- Georgia Promise Program Timeline (GESA)
- WSB-TV: More than 15,000 families applied for Georgia Promise vouchers (2025)
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Students claimed fewer than half of budgeted Georgia Promise scholarships
- Governor's office: Georgia's 2026 legislative session education agenda
See what your family qualifies for →
