Manisha Snoyer explains Step Up For Students' Personalized Education Plan, which lets Florida families use scholarship dollars for education outside traditional full-time schools. The program covers eligibility, the application process, and what families can spend the money on.
Questions this video answers
20,000 students
40,000 students per year
Up to $24,000
Students must be at least 5 years old by September 1st
The Private School Transportation Scholarship (or the FTC FESEO)
Chapters
In this training, we will share information about the Personalized Education program through Step up for Students. Step up for Students empowers families to pursue and engage in the most appropriate learning options for their children. Step up for Students is a state approved nonprofit scholarship funding organization that helps administer several scholarships for Florida school children. Pep, funded through the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, was created to serve Florida's families who would prefer not to enroll their child in full time public or private school and would like to access an education Savings account to fund their students learning. Student learning plans will be completed through the parent login within the EMA portal before funding will occur. We will share more information about this in a few slides. If you are interested in pep, you should first apply for the FTC FESEO or the Transportation Private School Scholarship in the EMA portal. Once you have been awarded FTC feseo, you will then receive an email where you can notify us that you would like to use the PEP option. We will share more information about this throughout the presentation. If you are interested in more information about House Bill 1, you can visit our website or scan this QR code to learn more. The PEP program allows families who have students that are not enrolled full time in public or private school to use scholarship dollars to educate their child. We will go into detail about this in a few slides. The first step for those interested in the PEP program is to apply for the Private School Transportation Scholarship in the EMA portal. We will explain what documents are needed for that application. These scholarships are now Educational Savings Accounts. There is no longer an income cap on eligibility. All students who are eligible to attend to attend public school in kindergarten through 12th grade are eligible for these scholarships. Now let's go into detail about how to apply. This shows you the income priority guidelines for the FTC FESEO Scholarship. On the left hand column you'll find your household size. Then you'll find your maximum gross income to determine which cap you are in. So if you have a family of four you can make up to $55,000 $55,500 to be in the first priority. A family of four can make up to $120,000 to be in the second priority and all others will be in the non priority funding status. On the next slide I am going to share what documents you need to apply. Here are the documents needed to apply for the scholarship. All applicants will need proof of residency for the primary parent and their spouse if applicable. The most popular proof of residency is a driver's license, but this checklist that available on our website provides multiple options. Families will be asked to enter their student's Social Security number. This is not required, but you can enter it here if you have one. Next, you will need to provide proof of income for all adults over the age of 18. If your family's annual income falls in the non priority funding status, you do not have to enter income documents. You can enter form number 1070. This form is available on our website and at this QR code. The checklist is also available on our website. We recommend you gather the documents needed before beginning the application process. Where do you apply? You can scan this QR code in the middle of the screen to begin your application. Remember, you will apply for the Private School Transportation Scholarship in the EMA portal which is your first step to complete in order to apply for pep. Once you have been awarded the Private School Transportation Scholarship, you will receive an email about how to complete your PEP application. Please note that we can only award 20,000 students on PEP this year, so your application will be reviewed and you will receive an email with additional information. Now let's go into detail about the PEP scholarship. PEP approval is a separate attendance category with the Florida Department of Education similar to home education programs, but PEP students cannot be registered with the school district as home education students. PEP students are not home education program students because home education program students register with the district superintendent for purposes of reporting attendance. PEP students will be approved by the scholarship funding organizations like Step up for Students. Any parent previously enrolled with the district in a home education program who wants to have an ESA as part of the PEP program needs to terminate the home education program with the school district. If the student was previously enrolled full time in public school or private school, the student will need to withdraw and be approved as a PEP student. All Florida students in grades kindergarten through 12 are eligible, but the program is limited to 20,000 students in 2324. The program can grow by 40,000 students annually through 2027. Students must be at least 5 by September 1st. Parents and guardians must annually develop a student learning plan and that is what will be completed in the EMA portal once it is available and parents must take a Florida Department of Education approved national norm reference Test and submit those results to the scholarship funding organization. Parents must also complete a sworn compliance statement with their scholarship funding organization like Step up for Students. Now I will share with you about the categories and items you can purchase with your scholarship dollars if you are in the PEP program. These are listed on this slide and explained on our website. You can scan this QR code to learn more. I'm going to share a few clarifications with you about these items. Digital materials does not include devices such as computers, laptops or iPads. Home Educational Instruction Program is an authorized use of funds category in the statute. The Legislature added the word instructional to differentiate it from home education program as a term used to describe the students who register with the district for attendance purposes. An example of such a provider could be a home education resource Center. Parents wanting more guidance on standardized norm referenced tests can get more information at the Florida Department of Education website. Funds can roll over from year over year up to $24,000. You can scan this QR code on the slide to learn more. Student Learning Plans are to be completed in ema. We will share more information about the Student Learning Plan when it becomes available. A Choice Navigator is an optional service provider intended to help guide parents through a myriad of services that are available to you. A Choice Navigator must hold a Florida teacher certification, adjunct teacher certification, bachelor or graduate degree in the subject area where any instruction is given, demonstrated mastery of the subject area knowledge, or is certified through training from an internationally recognized research based training program approved by the Florida Department of Education. Choice Navigators are not required. They are optional. We will share more information about how to become a Choice Navigator and how to use one and when it becomes available. I thank you for your time today. If you have any additional questions for us, you can call our Service center at 877-735-7837 or you can visit our website at stepupforstudents.org thank you so much for being here today and I hope you have a wonderful day.
