Mahadev Maitri Foundation
US Initiatives

Georgia

2,300 Schools223 Districts1.7M Students
$15,679
Avg Per-Pupil Spend
+9% nat'l
65.7%
Free Lunch Rate
+13.5pp vs nat'l
86.6%
Graduation Rate
≈ nat'l avg
37/100
Opportunity Score
Limited
⇄ Compare Georgia with another state
About Georgia Public Schools

Georgia's education landscape is dominated by the Atlanta metro, home to Gwinnett County Public Schools — the ninth-largest district in the country — and Atlanta Public Schools, a district that has been both a reform leader and the center of a major standardized-test cheating scandal in 2009. The state's Quality Basic Education (QBE) funding formula has been a subject of ongoing debate, with rural districts arguing the formula consistently underserves them. Georgia has invested heavily in pre-K: its universal voluntary Pre-K program, launched in 1993 and now serving over 80,000 4-year-olds annually, is consistently ranked among the strongest state pre-K programs in the nation. The state uses the Georgia Milestones Assessment System for grades 3-8 and high school end-of-course exams.

State Snapshot
State BoardGeorgia State Board of Education
AssessmentGeorgia Milestones Assessment System
Compulsory Ages6–16
School CalendarSchool year begins in late July or early August; early calendar required for sports eligibility
Total Enrollment1,742,497
Public Schools2,300
Largest District
Gwinnett County
180K students
Highest Per-Pupil
Pulaski County
$39,271/student
Top Graduation Rate
Calhoun City
98.0% grad rate
School Districts (223)
Per-pupil spending in Georgia ranges from $7,402 to $39,271 across districts with available data. State avg: $15,679.
DistrictSchoolsStudentsPer-PupilGrad RateFree LunchOpp.
Large Districts — 10,000+ Students
Gwinnett County139180K$14,002↓11%82.9%54.9%↓16%44
Cobb County110107K$14,611↓7%86.1%41.7%↓37%39
DeKalb County13192K$16,21276.3%↓12%77.5%↑18%37
Fulton County10890K$15,56991.0%↑5%44.7%↓32%40
Forsyth County4153K$12,614↓20%83.3%14.1%↓79%40
Clayton County6652K$13,263↓15%78.9%↓9%90.4%↑38%34
Atlanta Public Schools8650K$24,033↑53%83.9%71.3%↑9%29
Henry County5043K$13,123↓16%87.5%50.5%↓23%39
Cherokee County3742K$13,227↓16%87.4%29.5%↓55%39
Savannah-Chatham County5836K$17,225↑10%87.1%69.1%↑5%45
Paulding County3332K$12,294↓22%89.1%42.6%↓35%44
Houston County3731K$14,734↓6%89.6%59.2%↓10%37
Muscogee County5330K$14,671↓6%87.0%79.6%↑21%36
Richmond County5230K$15,32385.7%94.3%↑44%36
Columbia County3029K$12,726↓19%92.0%↑6%31.2%↓52%49
Hall County3727K$15,07091.5%↑6%53.6%↓18%41
Douglas County3526K$13,981↓11%87.6%64.5%37
Coweta County2923K$14,016↓11%87.1%38.0%↓42%36
Bibb County3521K$15,81179.3%↓8%97.8%↑49%39
Fayette County2420K$15,17590.5%27.9%↓58%43
Newton County2219K$14,629↓7%86.8%73.4%↑12%40
Carroll County2416K$15,32193.2%↑8%59.8%↓9%37
Rockdale County1816K$16,39683.3%71.0%↑8%36
Barrow County1615K$14,450↓8%88.1%51.5%↓22%40
Walton County1515K$12,755↓19%89.9%42.7%↓35%44
Effingham County1314K$13,167↓16%90.5%39.6%↓40%43
Bartow County1914K$13,186↓16%89.5%53.7%↓18%38
Dougherty County2213K$16,606↑6%86.8%100.0%↑52%31
Glynn County1713K$16,04492.5%↑7%61.2%↓7%34
Clarke County2112K$19,385↑24%83.3%82.8%↑26%38
Whitfield County2212K$14,319↓9%91.2%↑5%68.6%38
Troup County1912K$13,562↓13%86.6%74.4%↑13%36
Bulloch County1511K$13,409↓14%81.3%↓6%62.3%↓5%36
Lowndes County1111K$14,361↓8%92.0%↑6%49.7%↓24%40
Liberty County1211K$13,521↓14%87.9%70.2%↑7%36
Catoosa County1610K$15,32587.7%44.0%↓33%38
Bryan County1010K$13,112↓16%89.2%32.1%↓51%—
Medium Districts — 1,000–9,999 Students
Jackson County109,918$15,91196.1%↑11%38.8%↓41%39
Griffin-Spalding County189,563$14,91689.4%91.0%↑39%38
Camden County129,523$12,811↓18%96.0%↑11%45.2%↓31%34
State Charter Schools- Georgia Cyber Academy18,876$9,416↓40%52.0%↓40%56.1%↓15%—
Colquitt County138,830$14,330↓9%89.0%86.7%↑32%40
Marietta City138,711$17,495↑12%76.0%↓12%61.7%↓6%38
Oconee County118,531$13,389↓15%97.5%↑13%11.7%↓82%40
Floyd County148,409$16,880↑8%94.7%↑9%51.7%↓21%35
Walker County158,401$14,671↓6%88.1%68.2%38
Valdosta City88,291$13,099↓16%87.0%93.3%↑42%41
Polk County117,878$14,251↓9%82.3%78.0%↑19%38
Dalton Public Schools107,675$15,49094.0%↑9%70.5%↑7%38
Tift County117,661$13,478↓14%83.0%100.0%↑52%42
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Frequently Asked Questions
Data sourced from NCES Common Core of Data, EDFacts, and Opportunity Atlas. Figures reflect the most recent available federal dataset (2021-22 / 2022-23). Learn more about our data sources.