Before 1900 On November 26, 1869, the Atlanta City Council passed an ordinance establishing the Atlanta Public Schools. On January 31, 1872, the first three grammar schools for white students (Crew Street School, Ivy Street School, Walker Street School) opened, and the existing grammar schools for black students (Summer Hill School and Storr's School) established by the Freedman's Bureau in 1866 and supported by the Northern Missionary Societies, were merged into the holdings of the Atlanta Public Schools. The capacity of each school was 400 students, although the inaugural registration was 1839 students, 639 students over the capacity. In addition, two high schools, divided by sex, were formed for white students, Boys High and Girls High. These initial schools were based on a census of school aged (ages 6–18) children called for by the inaugural Board of Education. That survey reported in October 1870 that there were 3,345 white children (1,540 boys and 1,805 girls) and 3,139 black children (1,421 boys and 1,728 girls) for a total potential student body of 6,484. the districts for the white grammar schools were divided as follows, • Crew Street School, The second and third wards, including that portion of the city lying between Whitehall street and the Georgia Railroad • Ivy Street School, the fourth, fifth, and seventh wards, bounded by the Georgia Railroad and the Western & Atlantic Railroad • Walker Street School, first and sixth wards, including that portion of the city west of Whitehall street and the Western & Atlantic railroad. The first salary budget, dated December 9, 1871, was for twenty-seven teachers, and totaled $21,250. Grade school teachers were paid $450-$800 a year, while principals were paid $1,500 and the superintendent was paid $2,000. The organization of the schools was a traditional 8-4 arrangement which consisted of 8 years of grammar school for students aged 6 to 14, and 4 years of high school for students aged 14–18. The grades began at eighth for first year students, and students progressed through to the first grade as year eight students of grammar school. The established curriculum for grammar school was, Spelling, Reading, Writing, Geography, Arithmetic (Mental and Written), Natural History, Natural Science, English Grammar, Vocal Music (it was later decided not offer this), Drawing, Composition, History, Elocution. High school curriculum was Orthography, Elocution, Grammar, Physical Geography, Natural Philosophy, Latin, Greek (boys only), Algebra, Geometry, Composition, Rhetoric, English Literature, French or German, Physiology, Chemistry, and a review of grammar school studies. By 1896 there were a total of twenty-two schools, fifteen grammar schools for white students, five grammar schools for black students, and two high schools for white students.
Expansion On January 1, 1952, thirty-eight schools that began under
Fulton County Schools came under the authority of Atlanta Public Schools following the
Plan of Improvement annexation executed by Atlanta Mayor
William B. Hartsfield. These schools included five segregated high schools: Henry McNeal Turner and Hapeville, which served black students, and Fulton,
North Fulton,
Northside, Southwest, and West Fulton, which served white students. The primary schools added on this date were Anderson Park, Benton, Blanton, Bolton, Morris Brandon, John Carey, Carter, Cascade, Center Hill, Chattahoochee, Lena H. Cox, Goldsmith, Margaret Fain, Mount Vernon, Hunter Hills, Garden Hills, R. L. Hope, E. P. Howell, Humphries, Lakewood Heights, Mayson, New Hope, Perkerson, Philadelphia, E. Rivers, Rockdale, Rock Spring, West Haven, William Scott, South Atlanta, and Thomasville.
Integration On August 30, 1961, nine students – Thomas Franklin Welch, Madelyn Patricia Nix, Willie Jean Black, Donita Gaines, Arthur Simmons, Lawrence Jefferson, Mary James McMullen, Martha Ann Holmes and Rosalyn Walton – became the first African American students to attend several of APS's all-white high schools. On September 8, 1961,
Time magazine reported: Last week the moral siege of Atlanta (pop. 487,455) ended in spectacular fashion with the smoothest token school integration ever seen in the Deep South. Into four high schools marched nine Negro students without so much as a white catcall. Teachers were soon reporting "no hostility, no demonstrations, the most normal day we've ever had." In the lunchrooms, white children began introducing themselves to Negro children. At Northside High, a biology class was duly impressed when Donita Gaines, a Negro, was the only student able to define the difference between anatomy and physiology. Said she crisply: "Physiology has to do with functions." In a 1964 news story,
Time would say, "The Atlanta decision was a gentle attempt to accelerate one of the South’s best-publicized plans for achieving integration without revolution." By May 1961, 300 transfer forms had been given to black students interested in transferring out of their high schools. 132 students actually applied; of those, 10 were chosen and 9 braved the press, onlookers, and insults to integrate Atlanta's all-white high schools.
Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka had established the right of African American students to have equal opportunities in education, but it was not until 1958, when a group of African American parents challenged the segregated school system in federal court, that integration became a tangible reality for students of color in Atlanta. Adding to the accolades for the students and the city, President Kennedy publicly congratulated residents during an evening address and asked other cities to "look closely at what Atlanta has done and to meet their responsibility... with courage, tolerance and above all, respect for the law."
1970s. Compromise Desegregation Plan. In January 1972, in order to settle several federal discrimination and desegregation lawsuits filed on behalf of minority students, faculty, and employees and reach satisfactory agreement with Atlanta civil rights leaders who had worked over a decade for a peaceful integration plan. Atlanta Public Schools entered into a voluntary agreement called the Compromise Plan with the U.S. Department of Education along with approval and oversight from the U.S. Department of Justice to fully desegregate Atlanta Public Schools. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, a majority of Atlanta Northside public schools had either token integration, or none at all. Faculty and staff assignments to schools had remained mostly segregated as well. The Justice department reviewed the school system plan consisting of Partial district (Reverse) Busing for the Northside area.. Voluntary and "M to M" (Minority to Majority) transfers; Redrawing attendance zones, Closing outdated and underutilized schools, Building new schools, Mandating and implementing equal employment opportunity guidelines for hiring, training, promotion, assignment, staffing, compensation, vendor selection, bidding, contracting, construction, procurement and purchasing. The school system was also converted from a K-7 elementary and 8-12 high school grade system into a middle school 6–8 grade program beginning with the 1973/1974 school year. The curriculum was also updated to have studies more balanced, inclusive, and diverse, with content culturally and historically significant to racial minorities. On April 4, 1973 after final review authorization orders were issued from the Federal Courts clearing the way for the Compromise Plan of 1973 to be immediately implemented bringing full integration to APS. With strict guidelines, oversight and timeline implementation of the voluntary desegregation plan, the federal courts agreed not to order and enforce system-wide a mandatory busing desegregation program for APS that had been federally enforced in other cities up to that time, most notably Boston and Philadelphia which resulted in widespread anti-busing violence in 1973-74 that Atlanta civil rights leaders desired to avoid. Along with the Compromise program for racial balance, After a year long Search Atlanta's first African American School Superintendent, Dr. Alonzo A. Crim, was Appointed taking leadership of Atlanta Public Schools in August 1973. He remained superintendent until his retirement in 1988.
21st century The City of Atlanta, in 2017, agreed to annex territory in DeKalb County, including the
Centers for Disease Control and
Emory University, effective January 1, 2018. In 2016 Emory University made a statement that "Annexation of Emory into the City of Atlanta will not change school districts, since neighboring communities like
Druid Hills will still be self-determining regarding annexation." By 2017 the city agreed to include the annexed property in the boundaries of APS, a move decried by the leadership of the
DeKalb County School District as it would take taxable property away from that district. The area ultimately went to APS; Subsequent to this annexation, the State Legislature enacted a law that limited any future annexations in DeKalb by the city of Atlanta to changes only in municipal governance and specifically prohibited changes in school governance as a result of such annexations. In 2023, APS increased its budget to a record $1.66 billion and its spending-per-student amount to $22,692 which is about double the state and national public school average.
Cheating scandal During the 11-year tenure of former superintendent
Beverly Hall, the APS experienced unusually high gains in standardized test scores, such as the
Criterion-Referenced Competency Test. In 2009, Hall won the National Superintendent of the Year Award. Around this time, the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution began investigating the score increases and suggested evidence of cheating. A state report found numerous erased answers in an analysis of the 2009 test scores. Tests were administered under much higher scrutiny in 2010, and the scores dropped dramatically. The state of Georgia launched a major investigation as cheating concerns intensified. The investigation's report, published in July 2011, found evidence of a
widespread cheating scandal. At least 178 teachers and principals at 44 APS schools were alleged to have corrected students' tests to increase scores, in some cases holding "cheating parties" to revise large quantities of tests. Hall, who had retired in June 2011, expressed regret but denied any prior knowledge of, or participation in, the cheating. The new superintendent,
Erroll Davis, demanded the resignation of the 178 APS employees or else they would be fired. The revelation of the scandal left many Atlantans feeling outraged and betrayed, with Mayor
Kasim Reed calling it "a dark day for the Atlanta public school system." The scandal attracted national media coverage.
Restructuring In August 2025, APS reported an enrollment of approximately 50,000 students, despite having the capacity to serve up to 70,000. Over the past three decades, enrollment has steadily declined, particularly in the city’s west and south sides. To address this, consolidation and restructuring efforts are planned by 2030 to save costs and increase enrollment at underutilized schools. Additionally, proposals have been made to repurpose closed schools as community hubs or housing for teachers. ==Governance==