By law children must be 5 years old on or before Sept. 1 to enter kindergarten and 6 years old on or before Sept. 1 to enter first grade. You will need the following documentation for your child: a certified birth certificate from your state department of vital statistics; a vision, hearing and dental screening from a family practitioner or local health clinic; immunization records listed on Georgia State Form 3231.
The HOPE Scholarship Program
The Georgia Student Finance Commission handles all matters pertaining to the HOPE Scholarship Program and the PROMISE Teacher Scholarship Program. For more information, contact the Student Finance Commission at: Georgia Student Finance Commission, 2082 East Exchange Place, Tucker, GA, 30084; (770) 724-9000; gsfc.org
Day care Details
There are approximately 170 licensed day care centers in the metro Atlanta area. All centers must be licensed through the state and meet state requirements. For information, call the Georgia Department of Human Resources at (404) 657-7660. Quality Care for Children and Save the Children both offer private, not-for-profit telephone referral services that assist parents looking for child care in the metro Atlanta area. Call (404) 885-1585 or (404) 479-4200, or visit qualitycareforchildren.org.
A GOAL for Private Schools
In order to help provide Georgia’s children with more learning opportunities, the Georgia GOAL Scholarship Program was created to provide students with tuition scholarships for private K-12 schools. Currently, 117 private schools in Georgia participate in the GOAL scholarship program. For more information on the Georgia GOAL Scholarship Program visit goalscholarship.org.