Applications for 2024-2025 close on Friday, December 6, 2024.
If you’re a resident of Florida with children in grades K-12, the state department of education awards scholarships to use for their education.
Here’s the big deal: this money is available for homeschool families.
According to the Florida State Department of Education’s website, “The Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program (FTC) was established in 2001 to provide an income tax credit for corporations that contribute money to nonprofit Scholarship-Funding Organizations (SFOs) that award scholarships to students from families with limited financial resources. The purpose of the program is to expand education opportunities for children and to enable them to achieve a greater level of excellence in their education. On March 27, 2023, Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law House Bill 1, which expands available school choice options for all students in Florida. As of the 2023-24 school year, financial eligibility restrictions for FTC have been eliminated. FTC scholarship funds are placed in an education account (ESA) on behalf of families.”
Florida has partnered with Step Up for Students (SUFS), a non-profit organization tasked with managing the scholarship opportunities enacted by the Florida state legislature. While SUFS oversees a number of scholarship opportunities available state-wide, for the purposes of home education we will mainly explore Florida’s Personalized Education Program (PEP).
All of the materials offered by Compass Classroom except for live classes qualify as eligible expenses with Florida’s PEP scholarship. This includes all of our self-paced curriculum with video instruction.
If you have already been awarded the PEP ESA for your kids, scroll down to the bottom of this article to learn exactly how to use the funds with Compass Classroom.
If, however, you aren’t sure how to access your funds, we will step you through the process. The following article explains:
- What is the Florida PEP ESA?
- How much money comes in a PEP ESA?
- What can I pay for with a PEP ESA?
- How do I sign up for a PEP ESA?
- How do I use my PEP ESA with EMA?
- How do I use my PEP ESA funds to purchase Compass Classroom products?
- Links and Contact Info for the Florida PEP ESA
We have tried to simplify and summarize the material available on the Florida SUFS site, but if you’d like to consult the actual site for additional information, they have useful FAQs at the Step Up For Students website. Additionally, there is a helpful handbook specifically for the PEP ESA.
What is the Florida PEP ESA?
Florida’s Personalized Education Program ESA provides a limited number of tax-free scholarship dollars to Florida families to help them pursue flexible options for their children’s learning. This includes families who homeschool their children.
The state’s PEP webpage explains: “Florida students who are not full-time private or public school students can access the Personalized Education Program (PEP) through the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program. This scholarship provides an education savings account (ESA) to fund the educational needs of eligible students. The program can serve up to 60,000 students in the 2024-25 school year and may grow by 40,000 annually.”
Of note, in order to be eligible for Florida’s PEP scholarship and receive funds, parents must terminate their home education program with their school district before receiving funds. Guidelines instead require families to become registered PEP participants and submit to PEP program requirements:
- Parents must withdraw from their home education program with their school district before accepting PEP funds (but should not do so until receiving notification of acceptance in the PEP scholarship program from SUFS).
- Parents must declare a grade level for students.
- Parents must submit and maintain a Personalized Learning Plan, answering a simple questionnaire about learning goals they want to emphasize for their child for the upcoming year.
- Take a norm-referenced test annually and submit those scores to SUFS. One of the acceptable norm-referenced tests is the CLT (Classic Learning Test), popular with many homeschooling families who need or want to evaluate their children.
How much money comes in an ESA?
PEP scholarships are based on your county of residence and are determined yearly. Here is a breakdown of scholarship amounts for 2024-2025:
To be eligible for a PEP scholarship, a student must be:
- A Florida resident or dependent children of active-duty members of the United States Armed Forces who have received Permanent Change of Station (PCS) orders to Florida or renewing students whose home record or state of legal residence is Florida and have received PCS orders outside of Florida, and
- Eligible to enroll in grades K – 12 in a Florida public school,
- Received a scholarship under the Hope Scholarship Program in the 2023-24 school year.
- A student entering kindergarten must be 5 years old on or before September 1 of the school year of their scholarship application. A student entering first grade must be 6 years old on or before September 1 of the school year of their scholarship application.
What happens to funds that aren’t spent? The good news is that unspent funds roll over from year to year allowing families to budget for their educational needs on their own timeline. Student scholarship accounts are capped at a maximum rollover amount of $24,000 per student.
Furthermore, ESA funds are not considered taxable income. This is important to remember when tax season comes around.
It’s important to realize that ESA funds are not money that a parent can directly withdraw and use to pay for education. Instead, parents must use My Scholar Shop that acts as an intermediary to pay vendors or provide reimbursements to parents. We will explain more about that below after first talking about what you can pay for with an ESA.
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What can I pay for with a PEP ESA?
There is wide latitude for using the funds placed in a PEP ESA. Acceptable educational expenses include:
- Instructional materials
- Curriculum and curriculum materials
- Tuition and fees:
+ At an eligible private school
+ For full-time in-person learners (private school scholarship option students)
+ For part-time (for PEP students only)
+ For hybrid private school program (for PEP students only)
+ For home education program (for PEP students only)
+ At an eligible postsecondary institution
+ For dual enrollment
+ For an approved pre-apprenticeship program
+ For a full-time private tutoring program (for PEP students only)
+ At an approved online or virtual provider
+ As a private-pay student for Florida Virtual School - Standardized testing fees
- Contracted services provided by a public school or school district
- Part-time tutoring and Choice Navigator services
Additionally, a number of extracurricular and supplemental categories are covered by PEP ESA. There is a lot of flexibility here, from textbooks and classes, to athletics, orchestra, music, drama, debate, 4-H, scouting, and robotics, to museum trips, zoo visits, historical sites, orchestra performances and historical reenactments. For a full and detailed list of eligible expenses, please refer to the Purchasing Guide.
The good news is that many things Compass Classroom offers are eligible under Florida’s PEP ESA. At this time, our live classes are not eligible to be purchased with PEP funds. Of course parents may continue to purchase our live classes out of pocket.
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How Do I Sign Up for a PEP ESA?
Applications for the 2024-2025 academic year are now open. As mentioned above, program capacity for this year is set at 60,000. Applications for 2024-2025 close on Friday, December 6, 2024.
For first time PEP applicants, parents will need to first create an account with the Education Marketplace Assistant (EMA). From there, parents will complete all steps of the PEP application, including submitting relevant residency and financial documentation. This is a helpful step-by-step guide to navigate the application process. Additionally, there is a helpful video here which steps applicants through the process.
How Do I Use my PEP ESA with EMA?
As we explained above, My Scholar Shop is the financial management platform for the PEP ESA program. This platform allows PEP participants to shop for educational products and services provided by vendors. Compass Classroom is working to become a vendor with My Scholar Shop. Until we are approved, families can still utilize PEP funds through the reimbursement process:
- Log in to EMA
- Select the profile icon in the upper right-hand corner.
- First-time users will need to scroll down to the payment method, read and check the yellow box that appears.
- Next, you will select which of the 3 payment methods: ACH (direct deposit), check, or PayPal.
- From the dashboard on the left side of your screen, select “Reimbursements.” Then select “New.”
- You will select from which of your students’ accounts you want to be reimbursed.
- Next, you will upload an invoice. Files must be PNG, JPG, or PDF format. Note: all invoices must contain a purchase date, an invoice number, the amount, the service provider’s name, and the educational benefit. Screenshots of receipts will not be accepted—receipts must be acceptable files.
- When you have uploaded your receipts and information, click “Submit for Approval.” Once your reimbursement request is processed, you will be notified of the approval (or disapproval) and receive your funds via the payment method you have chosen.
A helpful resource on this process can be found here.
We also strongly suggest that you check with SUFS prior to purchase to make sure each purchase meets eligibility requirements. Purchases that do not meet eligibility requirements will not be reimbursed.
How do I use my ESA PEP funds to purchase Compass Classroom products?
Compass Classroom is working to join Step Up For Students’ online marketplace, My Scholar Shop. Until then, the process is fairly straightforward–families can purchase eligible Compass products and be reimbursed through the Education Marketplace Assistant (EMA). Remember that you must download and save the receipt we email you after purchase. You will upload this official receipt before submitting your purchase with approval.
We do have some “best practices” suggestions for ESA PEP customers:
- Live classes are not currently eligible for reimbursement.
- Our Bronze Membership is the membership most likely to be approved as this membership does not include any live classes.
- Individual course purchases will be the easiest and most straight-forward reimbursements. This includes video instruction, books, lab materials, and even shipping and tax expenses.
- Please reach out to our Customer Service team after purchase to request a receipt containing the last 4 digits of the card you used for purchases. This is required by EMA for all reimbursable purchases.
- As with all ESA PEP purchases, contact SUFS with any questions about purchase eligibility before making a purchase.
Once Compass Classroom has joined the My Scholar shop marketplace, we will update this article with step-by-step instructions for purchasing our products.
What Can I Buy from Compass Classroom?
Compass Classroom has been developing video courses and curriculum materials for homeschool families since 2010. We provide comprehensive, self-guided, flexible courses in multiple subjects. Our goal is to make homeschooling easy for parents, enjoyable to students, and effective for learning.
We specialize in self-paced, user-guided video courses with accompanying textbooks and materials, as well as online teacher guidance. We provide core subject courses for upper elementary to high school, including the following subjects: Social Studies (History, Economics), English Language Arts (Literature, Vocabulary, Grammar, and Writing) Science, World Language, Calculus, and electives like Bible, Filmmaking, Music, and Philosophy.
To see everything we offer, you can click SHOP in the menu above or click the buttons below, either to see all our products or to view our catalog.
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“Compass is such a great resource for solid truth and Biblical foundations that my kids will be well equipped to face any challenges that question their beliefs!”
Holly
“The ease of this program for mommas and the fun and engaging nature of it for the kids makes it a favorite in our house!”
Susan
“History comes alive in this video curriculum.”
Wendy
Links and Contact Info for the Florida PEP ESA:
Here are a list of useful links, email, and phone number for Florida’s PEP ESA:
Information about Florida’s PEP ESA
Contact Step Up For Students:
Phone: 1-877-735-7837
Address: PO Box 54429, Jacksonville, FL 32245-4367
Do you have questions about Compass Classroom curriculum? Please contact us.
