Pre-Kindergarten Program

Registration for the 2024-2025 School Year

• Registration for the 2024-2025 school year will open online on this website on Monday, February 26, 2024, and it will remain open throughout the school year.
• If you wish to be included in the lottery drawings for available spaces, your registration will need to be completed by 4 p.m., on Friday, March 15, 2024.
• An in-person registration event will be held on Thursday, March 7, from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., at the Bulloch County Board of Education's Central Office, located at 150 Williams Road, in Statesboro.

Registration for the 2023-2024 School Year

Registration for the 2023-2024 school year opened on February 27, 2023, and will remain open throughout the 2023-2024  school year.  If you have reviewed the Pre-Kindergarten Guidelines, and you have the required documents, you are ready to register your child for Pre-Kindergarten. PreK Registration Flyer for 2023 2024 English Spanish.

Key Points to Remember

All Pre-Kindergarten registrations occur online via any Internet-enabled computer, cellular phone, or digital device. We do not accept any registrations prior to the advertised opening date. We encourage families to review the Pre-K Program Guidelines and Frequently Asked Questions tab on this webpage before registering. 

What if I do not have access to the Internet?

If you do not have access to an Internet-enabled device, contact your zoned elementary school to make an appointment to register via their kiosks during school office hours from 7:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Is there an  in-person evening registration time available?

Yes, Bulloch County Schools provides an evening registration time prior to the lottery drawings. It is for families who do not have access to the Internet to register online, and who are unable to make a daytime appointment to register at their zoned school. Look for advertised times during the registration period. The school district will host the evening registration at the Bulloch County Board of Education, located at 150 Williams Road, in Statesboro.

Who May Attend Pre-Kindergarten at a Public School ?

All children in the United States are entitled to equal access to a basic public elementary and secondary education regardless of their actual or perceived race, color, national origin, citizenship, immigration status, or the status of their parents or guardians. School districts that prohibit, discourage, or maintain policies that have the effect of prohibiting or discouraging children from enrolling in schools because they or their parents or guardians are not U.S. citizens or are undocumented may be in violation of Federal law.

Eligibility for Pre-Kindergarten 

Pre-Kindergarten students must be four-years-old on or by September 1, of the school year in which they wish to enroll. Children who are five-years-old on or before Sept. 1, who have not attended a Georgia Pre-K for more than 30 days, are also eligible for Pre-K unless you prefer your child to go to Kindergarten. Kindergarten registration is held annually usually during the first week of May.

Number of Pre-K Sites & Spaces

The Georgia Department of Early Learning (also known as Bright from the Start) administers the Georgia Pre-Kindergarten program. Bulloch County Schools hosts Pre-K sites at each of its nine elementary schools and two of its three high school campuses.

Unlike our Kindergarten through twelfth grades for which the school district must accommodate each child in Bulloch County who registers for school, Pre-Kindergarten is an optional program, and the Georgia Department of Early Learning decides and approves how many sites and class seats the school district can host. This does limit the number of children who can be registered, but we do provide a lottery drawing and a waiting list for our sites. We also provide lists of other Pre-K sites in the community.

Bulloch County Schools has 11 pre-k sites,  with 20 classes. Beginning with the 2024-2025 school year, the class sizes will be reduced to 20 students each, down from 22 students. This will reduce the school district's available spaces from 436 to 400. For this reason, demand may exceed space, so it is important to register during the annually announced online registration period.

Even if you feel a Pre-K site will fill up, please complete an online registration, and if necessary, ask to be placed on the waiting list. Waiting lists help us show demand for the program and could lead to additional sites being granted to the school system

Which Pre-K Site May My Child Attend?

Parents/guardians must register Pre-Kindergarten children for the school he/she is zoned to attend. Find your attendance zone. All  Pre-Kindergarten registrations are completed through the school district's online registration system. Please review the Pre-Kindergarten Program Guidelines and Frequently Asked Questions tab on this webpage before you register.

Priority is given to children within a school's attendance zone. Selection is based on a lottery drawing. Students from outside a school's attendance zone will be considered if all spaces are not filled with students who live within their attendance zone.

If you are willing to provide transportation for your child, you may consider a site that is not in your school zone. The Out-of-Zone Pre-Kindergarten request questions are embedded within the online registration system. Please note: If a child attends an out-of-zone Pre-K site, the child will then attend Kindergarten at his/her zoned elementary school unless a House Bill 251 School Choice/School Transfer Request has been requested and approved by the district. 

Who May Register a Child to Attend a Public School in Bulloch County?

Because Bulloch County Schools is a public school system for children who reside in Bulloch County, no individual who resides outside the boundaries of Bulloch County may be registered to attend its schools. An exception applies only to children of full-time employees of Bulloch County Schools.  

Only a child’s parent(s) or legal guardian(s) may register him/her for Prekindergarten. Your child does not have to be present for registration.

Are there evening registration times available?

Yes, Bulloch County Schools provides evening registration times prior to the lottery drawings. These are for families who do not have access to the Internet to register online, and who are unable to make a daytime appointment to register at their zoned school. Look for advertised times during the registration period. The school district will host the evening registration at the Bulloch County Board of Education, located at 150 Williams Road, in Statesboro.

Don't Wait. Register during the Annually Announced Registration Window

Register during the designated window. The number of children eligible for Pre-K fluctuates each year. Sites that do not have enough students could risk closure, and the school system does consider out-of-zone registrations for parents who are willing to provide their own transportation. For these reasons, it is best not to miss the designated registration week. Please do not wait to register and assume a site will have enough space for your child.

Children of Multiple Births

Children of multiple births (i.e. twins, triplets, quadruplets, etc.) will be treated as one applicant during the Pre-K lottery. However, each child must be registered online. The enrollment of children of multiple births will not exceed the state allowance without prior approval from Bright from the Start.  

Lottery Drawings & Waiting Lists

Unlike children in Kindergarten through twelfth grade for which we must accommodate each child in Bulloch County who registers for school, Pre-Kindergarten is an optional program and the Georgia Department of Early Learning decides and approves how many sites and student spaces our school system can host.

This does limit the number of children we can register, but we do provide a Pre-K Lottery and waiting lists for our sites and lists of other Pre-K sites in the community.

• May a child remain in the lottery drawing for an out-of-zone spot if the child has received a spot at his or her attendance-zone school? No, the child may not remain on the waiting list. Approval for a child to be included in any Pre-K lottery drawing does not guarantee placement if the child receives placement for a spot at his or her attendance zone school.
• What if I register after the Pre-K lottery drawing? Children who are registered after the Pre-K Lottery drawing will be automatically placed at the bottom of the waiting list for their zoned school and alternate school if indicated. 

Important: complete registration before the deadline

Please Note: To be considered for the school system's lottery drawing and waiting lists for available spaces, the child's online Pre-Kindergarten registration process and documentation must be completed by the announced deadline.

After Pre-K, where will my child attend Kindergarten?

• If my child attends Pre-K at a Bulloch County Schools' Pre-K site that is not in our school attendance zone but at an alternate Pre-K site in the school district, where will my child go to Kindergarten? After the completion of Pre-K, the child must attend Kindergarten at his or her attendance-zone school unless a House Bill 251 School Choice/Transfer Request has been approved. If your Pre-K site is also your zoned elementary school, you do not need to register your child for Kindergarten, he or she will be automatically enrolled in Kindergarten. If your Pre-K site is not at your zoned elementary school, you will need to register for Kindergarten at your zoned elementary school.

School Calendar, School Day & Transportation

All Pre-K classes follow Bulloch County Schools' calendar for the length of the school year and the elementary school day.

Transportation via school bus is available within each school's attendance zone.

Parents are responsible for transportation if the student is enrolled in a class outside of his or her assigned attendance zone.

Mill Creek Elementary & Brooklet Elementary Pre-K Sites

Special Note for those in the Mill Creek Elementary and Brooklet Elementary School Attendance Zones

• Mill Creek Elementary has three classrooms with two at Mill Creek Elementary and one at Statesboro High School.
• Brooklet Elementary has two classrooms with one at Brooklet Elementary and one at Southeast Bulloch High School.

Campus assignments to these Pre-K sites are through a random drawing during the Pre-K Lottery Drawing.  Once a parent has accepted a Pre-K placement for a child, there is no option to transfer between the main site and the satellite site. Transportation is provided for  these Pre-K students to the satellite site.

Conditions that result in an automatic placement in Pre-K

• Children who meet the guidelines on this webpage and are children of a Bulloch County Schools full-time employee may obtain automatic placement in a Pre-K classroom. For this to occur, the parent/legal guardian must be a Bulloch County Schools full-time employee during the Pre-K Registration window. Additionally, registration must be completed during the online registration period to be accepted (no exceptions).
• Full-time employees, who work at one of our elementary or high schools may choose either the pre-kindergarten site at the school in which they work or the pre-kindergarten site at their attendance zone school. Our full-time employees, who work at a middle school, may select their attendance zone school or feeder school. All other full-time employees must select their attendance zone school for automatic placement. 
• Children who receive automatic placement will be distributed among the pre-k classes and/or schools within the attendance zone as needed.  
• Priority is given to students with certain special needs, and six of these students will be selected as automatic placements for the Inclusion Classroom located at Mattie Lively Elementary School before the lottery each year. This classroom has a maximum size of 18 students. Other students with special needs may be considered for automatic placement in any Pre-K classroom before the lottery.
• Students with special needs are considered for automatic placement on a case-by-case basis; not all students will receive automatic placement.  
• If it is determined that a child has received placement in a state-funded Pre-k program by the second state roster reporting deadline, the child will be removed from the waiting list.  

To help you know the types of documentation that will be required to register your child for pre-kindergarten, please refer to this list. These items must be presented at Pre-Kindergarten Registration.

1. Verify identity of the legal parent / legal guardian who is registering the child by providing one of the following:
a. Valid driver’s license
b. Any picture identification card

2. Establish that parent or legal guardian is authorized to register the child by providing one of these documents:
a. Child’s birth certificate – Must show name of parent(s)
b. Magistrate court documents indicating custody
c. Power-of-attorney documents (Military or Civilian)
d. Custody documents
e. Letter of placement from the Georgia Department of Family & Children’s Services 

3. Establish identity and age of child by providing a birth certificate.

4. Establish proof of residency in Bulloch County by providing one of the following:
a. An electric, gas, water, cable television, or landline telephone/Internet utility bill that is less than 60 days old
b. A current lease that is less than 60 days old accompanied by a rent receipt
c. A letter from a homeless shelter, hotel/motel/RV park or employer if employer provides housing
Note: A cell phone, mortgage, property tax, homeowner’s insurance, vehicle registration, driver’s license, or PeachCare bill or notice will NOT be accepted as proof of residency. If you are unable to provide one of these documents in the registering parent's name or that of the registering parent's spouse, a notarized Family Residency Affidavit, along with a copy of the other person's proof of residence, will be required.

5. Establish proof of child’s Immunization Record (Form 3231) and Eye, Ear, Dental and Nutrition (EEDN-Form 3300).
a. Obtain these forms from the Health Department (855-473-4374) or your pediatrician.
Note: During registration you may provide proof of an upcoming appointment for health forms. Immunization & EEDN forms can be provided at a later date. This only applies to Pre-Kindergarten registration.

6. Provide child’s Social Security card or an accepted reason why it can not be provided.

A Pre-Kindergarten lottery is held for each school zone where there are more registered students than available class slots.  A lottery is defined as a process or outcome which is governed by chance; therefore, parents do not choose which Pre-K site their child will attend in that zone. For school zones where there is more than one Pre-K site (i.e. an elementary site and a high school site), one lottery will be used to place children in that zone’s available slots. 

To be considered for the Pre-Kindergarten lottery drawing for the 2024-2025 school year, the registration process and any out-of-zone forms (if necessary) must be completed online by 4 p.m., on Friday, March 15, 2024. Lottery drawings will be held on Thursday, March 28, 2024, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

After each lottery, the school district will contact the parents of each student chosen during the lottery, so that the registering parent can formally accept the enrollment. This must be done to officially enroll the child. 

Why are Lottery Drawings & Waiting Lists Necessary

The Georgia Department of Early Learning (also known as Bright from the Start) administers Georgia Pre-K and Bulloch County Schools hosts Pre-K sites on each of its elementary and high school campuses. Unlike grades K-12 for which we accommodate each child in Bulloch County who registers for school, Pre-Kindergarten is an optional program and the Georgia Department of Early Learning decides and approves how many sites our school system can host. This does limit the number of children we can register, but we do provide lists of other Pre-K sites in the community and a waiting list for our sites.

Bulloch County Schools has 11 pre-k sites with a total of 20 classrooms. For the 2024-2025 school year, the number of available spaces per Pre-K class will be reduced from 22 to 20, so the total number of available seats will be reduced from 446 to 400. For this reason, demand may exceed space, so it is important to register during the announced Pre-Kindergarten Registration period. Even if you feel a Pre-K site will fill up, please complete a registration packet, and if necessary, ask to be placed on the waiting list or ask about other sites in and out of your school zone.  Waiting lists help us show demand for the program and could lead to additional sites being granted to the school system.

May a child remain on an out-of-zone waiting list after they have accepted a spot at his or her attendance-zoned school? 

Yes, the child may remain on the out-of-zone list prior to the first day of faculty pre-planning. After pre-planning begins, to keep your child on an out-of-zone wait list, you will need to first decline the in-zone pre-kindergarten spot.

What if I register after the Pre-K lottery drawing?

Children who are registered after the Pre-K Lottery drawing will be automatically placed at the bottom of the waiting list for their zoned school and alternate school if indicated. 

Pre-Kindergarten Waiting Lists

A Pre-K waiting list is defined as a list of children, who are awaiting possible placement in a Pre-K site. Each zone has one waiting list. For school zones where there is more than one Pre-K site (i.e. an elementary site and a high school site), the two sites share a single waiting list. 
 
Children are placed on a waiting list if they did not receive placement at a Pre-K site in their zone due to full enrollment. Children may also be placed on a waiting list for a Pre-K site that is not in their zone. 
 
If a child receives placement in a Pre-K site, the parent can either accept or deny the placement. In an instance where there are two Pre-K sites in a zone (an elementary and a high school site) and a family participated in a Pre-K Lottery, the child received placement at a Pre-K site, and the parent denied placement at that site, the child will not be placed on a waiting list at the other Pre-K site within that same zone because the sites share a single waiting list.

Points to Remember

• High school sites are paired with an elementary school in that zone.
• We ensure that all of our Pre-K classes have a guaranteed and viable curriculum. Our students have an equal opportunity to be immersed in a positive learning environment and have educational experiences which focus on the Pre-K developmental standards. 
• We understand the importance of providing students with an early start with their educational experiences as well as providing a smooth transition to kindergarten in their zone school.
• As vacancies occur within a Pre-K classroom, applicants will be notified from the waiting list which will be in the order of the names drawn in the lottery. 
• Applicants who registered after the registration window are placed on the waiting list in the order that the packet was received.

Julia P. Bryant Elementary	2 classes (40 students)
Stilson Elementary	2 classes (40 students)
Nevils Elementary	2 classes (40 students)
Mill Creek Elementary*	3 classes (60 students
2 classes at Mill Creek Elementary 1 class at Statesboro High School
Langston Chapel Elementary	3 classes (60 students)
Portal Elementary	2 classes (40 students)
Brooklet Elementary*	2 classes (40 students)
1 class at Brooklet Elementary 1 class at Southeast Bulloch High
Mattie Lively Elementary	2 classes (40 students)
Sallie Zetterower Elementary	2 classes (40 students)

Private PreK Centers in Bulloch County

In our community there are Georgia Pre-kindergarten centers not only within our public school district, but within private schools and private daycare centers as well.  The list above provides you with the private options available to you if the demand for our sites exceeds our available space.

• Georgia Dept. of Early Care & Learning
• Georgia Pre-Kindergarten Curriculum