---
title: HB 1378. Georgia Promise Scholarship Act; clarify student residency qualification for promise scholarship accounts
collection: bills
id: 2025-2026/hb1378
cite_as: HB 1378, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1378
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1378.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1378/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/73367
date: 2026-02-20
status: introduced
corpus_version: bills-2026-09-13
license: Public record of the Georgia General Assembly, via LegiScan; see about.md
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
up: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1377.md
next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1379.md
index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md
omitted: votes and history
omitted_chars: 129
omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1378.md?full=1
bill_number: HB 1378
session: 2025-2026 Regular Session
session_slug: 2025-2026
chamber: House
bill_type: bill
status_date: 2026-02-18
last_action: House Second Readers
sponsors:
  - Doreen Carter
  - Patty Stinson
  - Sandy Donatucci
  - Stacey Evans
  - Lydia Glaize
  - Miriam Paris
text_version: Introduced
has_text: true
legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/HB1378/2025
upstream_id: 2119521
summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5
topic_tags:
  - school choice
  - education funding
  - Georgia Promise Scholarship
  - student eligibility
  - public schools
---

# HB 1378. Georgia Promise Scholarship Act; clarify student residency qualification for promise scholarship accounts

## Text

House Bill 1378
By: Representatives Carter of the 93rd, Stinson of the 150th, Donatucci of the 105th, Evans of
the 57th, Glaize of the 67th, and others
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
To amend Article 2 of Chapter 2B of Title 20 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, the
"Georgia Promise Scholarship Act," so as to clarify student residency qualification for
promise scholarship accounts; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and
for other purposes.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION 1.
Article 2 of Chapter 2B of Title 20 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, the "Georgia
Promise Scholarship Act," is amended by revising paragraph (3) of subsection (a) of Code
Section 20-2B-22, relating to participating student qualifications, continued eligibility of
participating students to receive funds subject to conditions, requirements for parents of
participating students, and forfeiture of account funds, as follows:
"(3) <del>The student resides in the attendance zone of</del> <ins>Based on his or her primary residence,
the student is enrolled or eligible to be enrolled in</ins> a public school that is included on the
list of public schools provided for in Code Section 20-2B-29 <ins>or eligible to enroll in a
qualified kindergarten program of such school;"
</ins>
SECTION 2.
All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.

## Summaries written by Georgia Commons

The following was written by claude-sonnet-5 from the text above and is not part of the bill. Quote the text, not the summary.

A Georgia House bill would change how student residency is determined for eligibility in the Georgia Promise Scholarship program, replacing the 'attendance zone' test with a 'primary residence' and enrollment eligibility test.

### Plain-language summary

The Georgia Promise Scholarship Act lets eligible students receive state-funded scholarship accounts to use for education expenses, but only if they qualify to attend a public school on a specific list of low-performing schools. Current law says a student qualifies if they reside in the attendance zone of one of those listed schools.
This bill rewrites that residency rule. Instead of looking at attendance zones, it says a student qualifies if, based on their primary residence, they are enrolled or eligible to be enrolled in a listed public school, or eligible to enroll in that school's qualified kindergarten program. The change is made in Section 1 by amending O.C.G.A. § 20-2B-22. Section 2 repeals any conflicting laws. The bill does not change funding amounts, application procedures, or which schools appear on the eligibility list.

### What it does

- Replaces the 'attendance zone' residency test with a 'primary residence' and school enrollment eligibility test for the Georgia Promise Scholarship program.
- Clarifies that eligibility can be based on being enrolled or eligible to enroll in a listed public school, not just living within its attendance boundary.
- Extends the eligibility language to explicitly cover students eligible to enroll in a qualified kindergarten program at a listed school.
- Repeals any existing laws that conflict with this revised residency definition.

### Who it affects

Families of students seeking Georgia Promise Scholarship accounts, students eligible for public schools on the state's designated list of qualifying schools, incoming kindergartners at those schools, and the state agency administering the scholarship program.

### Why it matters

How residency is defined determines which families can qualify for a Promise Scholarship account. Shifting from an attendance-zone test to a primary-residence and enrollment-eligibility test could change who counts as eligible, particularly for students whose home address does not clearly match a fixed attendance boundary.

### Key provisions

- Section 1 amends O.C.G.A. § 20-2B-22(a)(3), which lists qualifications for participating students in the Georgia Promise Scholarship program.
- The revised text ties eligibility to a student's primary residence and whether they are enrolled or eligible to enroll in a school on the list required by O.C.G.A. § 20-2B-29.
- The revised text adds explicit coverage for students eligible to enroll in a qualified kindergarten program at a listed school.
- Section 2 repeals any conflicting laws, a standard clause with no independent substantive effect.

## Status

- Status: Introduced (2026-02-18)
- Last action: House Second Readers (2026-02-20)
- Sponsors: Doreen Carter, Patty Stinson, Sandy Donatucci, Stacey Evans, Lydia Glaize, Miriam Paris
- Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/73367

> The history, votes, and amendments (129 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb1378.md?full=1