Updated on 4/24/23

What is the scholarship calculator?

The Georgia Special Needs Scholarship provides eligible students funding to attend an approved private school.  The funding may not be used for homeschool expenses or any other expenses other than private school tuition and fees.  The scholarship amount is based on what the individual student would generate under the state education funding formula and therefore is student specific (the scholarship does not include any local or federal education funding).  The calculator shows this individual amount. 

I’ve got my scholarship amount on the scholarship calculator, what do I do now?

Print out your scholarship amount and talk to the admissions/financial aid department at the private school you attend and/or are interested in! Note that a private school must be approved by the Georgia Department of Education to receive Georgia Special Need Scholarship funding. You can access this list here (click on the current year Private School List) or find a searchable map here. 

When can I access the scholarship calculator?

The Georgia Department of Education typically opens up the calculator for the next school year the summer beforehand and correspondingly, closes the scholarship calculator mid-Spring.  However, if you want to estimate your student’s amount for a future school year prior to the calculator opening up, you can review the per-pupil funding in this document.  Note that a student who has only a 504 would likely receive the base student funding amount for that student’s grade-level (unless that student also received EIP, ESOL, gifted or other services).  For students with IEPs, funding is based on the grade-level of the student as well as the number of segments and type of services received in each segment.  (Sidenote: If this seems complicated, it is! The scholarship is based on Georgia’s student funding formula which was created in 1985.)         

What if my student doesn’t show up on the calculator?

All qualified students who completed the previous school year (K-12) in a Georgia public school and who had an approved 504 plan or IEP plan should show up in the state calculator.  In addition, students who attended a Georgia special needs preschool or received related services in the previous school year and who are entering kindergarten should also be be included.  Parents of these students will also need to complete a Verification of Kindergarten Eligibility at Private School form from their private school to verify that the student will be entering a kindergarten program (note: private school pre-K programs cannot be funded by the scholarship).    

While all students that are eligible for the scholarship should show up in the calculator, this not always happen.  If you believe your student qualified and was omitted in error, DOE has suggested you do the following:

1. Try different cases of the student’s first, last name (UPPER CASE FIRST, LAST NAME or lower case first, last name)

2. If that doesn’t do the trick, you can fill out the Scholarship Calculator Parent Inquiry Form #15 under For Parents. (If you do not know the GTID number, just leave it blank. This number is found on the student’s IEP and on some report cards). Someone from DOE should contact you within 72 hours.
   

My child has a 504. The calculator asks if they had an IEP.  When I said “no”, the calculator states they are ineligible.  Do they qualify?

As of July, 2022 there was an error in the auto-generated calculator language that did not reflect the most recent changes to the Scholarship program.  This does not mean that you child does not qualify.  You can check the DOE website to determine if your student qualifies under a 504, or an IEP, or through attendance at a public special needs preschool program or related services.  If your student should qualify, follow the steps outlined above for when your student does not show up in the calculator.    

Why would my scholarship amount go down from last year? (or, why did my amount increase?) 

There are two separate answers depending on whether your student currently utilizes the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship or if they are new to the program:

• If your student currently uses the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship, the funding for that student should not change significantly from year to year. Whatever level your student is funded when they first utilize the scholarship is set from year to year. The only exception to this is when the Georgia legislature changes funding for the education funding formula for all students (such a change would not be specific to the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship). For example, the legislature cut statewide funding to the education funding per student in the 2020-2021 school year; parents who were utilizing the scholarship generally reported a proportionate cut in their scholarship for this period (i.e., their cut generally mirrored the cuts to public school funding). It is worth noting that while this is how the program is structured in the statute, some parents report cuts or increases that are not otherwise explained by the state budget process. If you believe your scholarship for any given year was calculated in error, consider contacting the DOE to clarify.

• If you are new to the program and your student does not currently utilize the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship, you might see increases or decreases to your calculated scholarship total from year to year depending on the student’s grade-level and the services they are receiving within the public school. Because the state of Georgia funds kindergarten students at a higher level than first grade students, for example, a student that saw no changes in their IEP from kindergarten to first grade would still see their total scholarship amount decrease. As a reminder, one you utilize the scholarship this amount does not fluctuate by grade (as described above). Similarly, Georgia funds students who receive ESOL, gifted or EIP services differently and adding or removing a designation from year to year would impact the total funding level (note: the state education funding formula does not provide any additional funding for a student based solely on having a 504 plan). Finally, students with IEPs receive additional funding depending on the type of environment where services are delivered throughout each segment of the day and the diagnoses within the IEP. While the scholarship amount could fluctuate year to year based on changes in a student’s designations or services, once you utilize the scholarship, this amount no longer fluctuates accordingly.

What if I don’t think the amount shown is accurate?

If a parent of a scholarship student believes that their students “program weights” are incorrectly reported (in other words, that the scholarship amount their student generated suggests that the school inaccurately reported the ESOL/gifted/EIP or other student designation and/or IEP services or diagnoses by segment), they may request a review of such calculation to the Georgia Department of Education in writing and within 30 days of receiving their actual scholarship amount (submit it to iparks@doe.k12.ga.us).   .  The department must then provide a written response within 30 days of receipt of the parent's written request.  Again, for a review of the program weights, see this document. 

What if the amount in the calculator is not enough for my child to attend the school of my choice?

Many private schools also offer need-based or other tuition assistance programs.  Please reach out to the private school your student attends or you are interested in to find out more information.  Additionally, federal law now allows the use of any individual’s 529 Plan funds for private school tuition expenses. 

If additional students are added to the program, will my student’s total scholarship amount be reduced? 

No.  The Scholarship is not a pie that must be divided by the total number of participants, but is formula-driven based on the individual students that participate at any given time.  The funding that each student receives is specified in statute.   The Department of Education may sometimes request additions or cuts to funding in the state Amended Budget to reflect the actual student participation levels.