[15] the districts for the white grammar schools were divided as follows, The initial monetary support from the Atlanta City Council was limited.

Although a bond had been called for and approved through vote by the residents, there were not yet funds and so the Board of Education had to approach the City Council to cover the purchase of the land, the construction of the buildings, the salaries of the teachers, as well as books to teach from.

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.

[24] 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.

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.

"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."

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.

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.

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Voluntary and "M to M" (Minority to Majority) transfers; Redrawing attendance zones, Closing outdated and underutilized schools, Building new schools, Mandating and implementing equal employment opportunity guidelines for hiring, training, promotion,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.

On April 4th 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.

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.

[28] 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.

The revelation of the scandal left many Atlantans feeling outraged and betrayed,[32] with Mayor Kasim Reed calling it "a dark day for the Atlanta public school system.