The Pre-K lottery application for the 2023-2024 school year will be available from January 16, 2023 at 9:00a.m through March 12, 2023 at 11:59p.m. The lottery drawing will be held on March 27, 2023. Lottery results must be verified before they can be released. The verification process can take a few days, however, all applicants will be informed of the results via email and on their parent dashboard found within the enrollment system after this process is complete. After the lottery drawing takes place on March 27th, our application will reopen on March 31, 2023 and remaining seats will then be filled on a first-come first-serve basis. If a seat becomes available and you are next in line to receive a seat, you will be contacted by email.

Program Requirements

  • Child must turn four years old by September 1, 2023.
  • Child must live within the Atlanta Public Schools' attendance zone
  • All APS employees are eligible to apply
  • If you are the parent of twins, triplets, etc., you are required to submit one application per child. Before the lottery drawing takes place, each application will be linked to ensure that they are placed at the same site
  • Applicants must have a valid email address to apply

Lottery Application Process

Applicants can access our online lottery application by visiting www.enrollearlyatl.com from January 16-March 12, 2023. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO COMPLETE THE APPLICATION BEFORE JANUARY 16TH. Doing so, will cause you to submit an application to the wrong school year and your application will not be included in the lottery. It will take approximately 30 minutes to complete the application. You will be asked to submit copies of key documents before your application is considered complete and can be submitted. Required documents are listed below. If you are unable to complete the application in one sitting, you can save your information and return later, but must submit by March 12th at 11:59 p.m. Lottery applications will NOT be accepted after March 12th at 11:59 p.m. for any reason.

When completing the application, applicants will be allowed to select a maximum of three different Pre-K sites and should list them in order of preference. Selecting three sites is optional. If you are only interested in one or two sites, leave the other site selection fields blank. Although not mandatory, we strongly encourage you to select your child's zoned school as your first choice. Acceptance into your zoned school creates an easy transition to kindergarten. In addition, school bus transportation services will only be offered to your child if they are accepted into their zoned school and live more than 1 mile away from the school. If you are applying after the lottery drawing has taken place, you will only be allowed to apply to one site.

Once the lottery results have been verified, each applicant will receive an email informing them of the results. If your child is not accepted, he or she will be placed on the waiting list for your first choice only.



Required Documents

1. Proof of birth (Your child must be four years old on or before September 1, 2023)
Original certified birth certificate; or child’s passport (Copies of these documents are not accepted)


2. Proof of legal guardianship (If applicable)
Only required if your name is not on the child's birth certificate


3. Parent/Guardian proof of identification
Valid state or government issued photo ID, such as a Georgia Driver’s license


4. Proof of Parent/Guardian Georgia Residency

Mortgage, deed or lease/rental agreement in your name, AND a Georgia Power bill in your name; (Cable and phone bills are not acceptable) Bills must be dated within 30 days of your enrollment date.
**If you are living with someone and you do not have a lease, deed or mortgage AND Georgia Power bill in your name, you must submit the following:

  • A signed Declaration of Residency form. For a copy of the Declaration of Residency form, please CLICK HERE.
  • A lease, deed or mortgage statement in the owners or primary renters name
  • A Georgia Power Bill in the owners or primary renters name current within the last 30 days
  • Three forms of mail in the name showing the residence property address of the homeowner.


5. Child’s original Social Security Card OR “Waiver”
If a waiver is needed, a downloadable copy will be available to you in the document upload section of the Pre-K application.


6. Proof of income (for Pre-K sites with a Head Start partnership ONLY) Click the link below to see if the site(s) that you are interested in is a Head Start partnership site: http://www.atlanta.k12.ga.us/Page/35082 If both parents live within the same household, proof of income is required for each parent.

W2, tax return, SSI income, child support, TANF, or a non-income declaration formIf you did not have any income for the previous year, a non-income declaration form will be provided to you.


7. Child’s Peachcare card, Medicaid card, or health insurance card

8. Proof of food stamps and/or TANF (If applicable)

9. Immunization Certificate (3231)

10. Vision, Hearing, and Dental Screening Certificate (3300)

If you have questions, please contact the Office of Early Learning at 404-802-3640, prekinfo@atlantapublicschools.us or follow us on Twitter at APS_ OEL.


What will my child learn in Pre-K?

Pre-kindergarten addresses all GELDS but places heavy emphasis on the social and emotional development, letter and sound recognition, phonological awareness, language development, retelling story events and details, numbers and quantities and problem solving.