Bulloch County Schools’ School Choice Privilege: Annual period to make requests is May 1-19

Families may use school choice privilege to submit a request for their child to attend another public school in the Bulloch County School System for the 2023-2024 school year. 

School Choice Privilege is an option for families with children enrolled in Kindergarten through grade 12. This year’s annual request period will open online at 7:30 a.m., on Monday, May 1 and close at 4:30 p.m., on Friday, May 19.

Classroom space must be available at the school the family wants to request. Schools with available space for 2023-2024 school year are the following:

• Stilson Elementary School (grades K-5); and
• Portal Middle High School (grades 6 to 12).

All other schools are considered to be closed due to not having available space to serve non-zoned students.

Interested parents or guardians may make their requests using the online survey form on the school district’s website . Families must submit an individual survey form for each child they want considered for School Choice Privilege.

Approval of one child in a family does not guarantee approval of others in the same family. Children not currently attending a Bulloch County public school, including new Kindergarten students, must be fully registered for school by Friday, May 12, 2023, in order to have a School Choice application considered. It’s important for families to remember that the person who makes the request must be the custodial parent or legal guardian who lives in the child’s primary home with the child, and the child must be a full-time resident of Bulloch County.

Families who need assistance, or who do not have home Internet, may call 912.212.8562 no later than 4:30 p.m., on Wednesday, May 17. For complete information in other languages or answers to frequently asked questions, see attachments below or visit the school district website. Printable parent flyers in English and Spanish are also available on the website.

The Georgia Special Needs Scholarship offers additional school choice options for children who have an active individualized education plan. Please contact the school district’s Special Education Department at 912.212.8500 if you believe this applies to your family.

Before making a request, please remember this additional information:

• The school district will accept requests for closed schools only when the request is to allow a child to attend the same school as a special needs sibling who was placed by Bulloch County Schools at a closed school due to lack of services required at the sibling’s home school.
• The school district does not pre-determine the number of spaces available at open schools prior to the request window in order to allow the district to consider the net effect of application approval at each school by grade and program.
• Any special programs that your child requires must be available at the school you request. The school district does allow children to be transferred to schools where special programs that they need do not already exist.
• Any child who transfers schools under School Choice Privilege is still subject to the Georgia High School Association’s eligibility requirements.
• Approval of a child to transfer under School Choice Privilege does not guarantee that any younger siblings will be able to attend the same school once they reach school age. If space is not available at a school the year a younger sibling begins Kindergarten, their application will be denied, regardless of the School Choice status of older students continuing at the same school.
• School Choice Privilege does not apply to students applying for enrollment in a lottery funded Georgia Pre-Kindergarten program. The school district gives Pre-Kindergarten enrollment preference to in-zone resident students and children of full-time Bulloch County Schools employees.
• If your child was approved for transfer under School Choice Privilege in a prior year and your child will be continuing his or her enrollment at the same school, you do not have to re-apply.
• If your child will be completing all grades at their current school this school year and you wish for your child to attend school outside his attendance zone as a rising sixth or ninth-grade student, you must submit a new School Choice request.