The Florida Scholarship

If you already know you plan to apply to PEP or UA at Step Up for Students, scroll to the bottom to get the Application checklist.

I’ve discussed starting with the Florida homeschool scholarship, PEP, or a Personalized Education Plan. To protect traditional homeschooling from any future legislation, PEP students are homeschooled through the state and not the county and are not given the legal term of “homeschool,” so they can be differentiated in the law. You won’t hear PEP students called homeschoolers in the law, but you have the same rights as a homeschooler… you’re schooling your child at home.

Differences between homeschooling in the county and homeschooling through the state.

County: You’re called a homeschooler and will utilize either testing or an annual portfolio to prove that you homeschooled. A certified teacher must look over your portfolio. You have to file an intent to homeschool with the county so you are registered for the purposes of attendance (it’s so they know you are homeschooling and not just truant). You can choose your curriculum, and no actual attendance is necessary to fulfill this requirement, so you won’t have to prove how many days or hours your student was in school with you at home.

State: you’re called a PEP student or a student enrolled in PEP and must do norm-referenced testing each year and submit the test results to the SFO (scholarship funding organization) each year. I would encourage you to utilize Step Up for Students as your SFO and not AAA based on other parent’s experiences. Those test results are uploaded on the SFO website and sent to the Learning Institute at Florida State University for score reporting. The information on the SUFS website regarding how you can test is inaccurate and has since been updated. You do not have to test within your county at a specific location with a proctor. For example, my children all used the Northridge Academy Star Assessment; their scholarships paid for it. They took the tests at home on the computer, and then we uploaded the results. It took 25 minutes for the math test and 25 minutes for the reading test, and we got some excellent insight into how they did this year. Your child’s test results will not impact their ability to keep homeschooling. If your child’s test results are not matching up with state-recognized benchmarks for public school students, that is completely fine. You’re homeschooling… you set the benchmarks. Lastly, you’ll fill out a student learning plan. Don’t worry, it’s on the website. You just make selections. You don’t need to write a formal paper or anything. Just like a county homeschooler, you have complete control over your student’s curriculum and no hourly requirements. The only difference is who you report to and access to scholarship funds.

If your child has a qualifying diagnosis (listed beginning on page 3), they can utilize the UA scholarship, and that’s a little different. They will not be enrolled as a PEP student but will follow county guidelines for homeschooling. The Unique Abilities scholarship has access to a different purchasing guide than PEP students and helps to provide additional tutoring, therapies, and assistive devices. Not listed but included under other health issues is ADHD, which is a qualifying diagnosis. Other common diagnoses approved for UA are dyslexia or dyscalculia.

You’re Applying for PEP…

Before you start your application, you will need to gather some personal information. You will need your social security number, proof of residency, and financial information if you would like to be considered for financial priority. You have to upload proof of income like the previous year’s tax forms. If you don’t want to put in your income information, you do not have to, but you will be in the lowest tier for approval. It’s okay, though, because this scholarship is accepting 40,000 more students every year. This year, they are accepting 60,000 students and just passed the 40,000-student threshold recently, so there is still time. You will also need information from your child, including their social security numbers, and if they are starting kindergarten level this year, you will need their birth certificate.

You’re applying for UA…

You’ll need everything for PEP and the documentation for a qualifying diagnosis. Step Up for Students explains, “Validation of the student’s diagnosis is required and must come from a licensed Florida physician, Autonomous Advanced Practice Registered Nurse, or psychologist; or a physician who holds an active license issued by another state or territory of the United States, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. A student may also qualify with an official, district-provided IEP written within the past three years in accordance with the rules of the State Board of Education or with the rules of another state.”[Step Up Handbook, page 4]

Step Up for Students also offers scholarships for children whose parents wish them to attend private school (this is also available on the UA scholarship for schools that accept it).

Good luck! Follow along for more information on how to use the scholarship including reimbursements and my scholarshop (MSS).