We are looking for good connections and referrals to specific individuals in positions of influence in the Florida House, Senate, etc. Sometimes one connection of a parent putting in a good word for us or helping connect us for a call or meeting with someone in the legislature can make a huge difference in our ability to get parents' concerns heard in the legislative committees! If you have a personal contact who may be able to help us with school choice and home education-related issues this upcoming legislative session, please post here! We may follow up to ask you to help connect us with that person if/when the need arises. Thank you!

Hello, everyone! Lately, we've been receiving a LOT of requests for help related to scholarships. So, can we help you with your scholarship issue? The answer may be yes, depending on the situation. Let me explain. Since some may be new here and not as familiar with HEF/HEFX (Home Education Foundation/HEF Connect), I need to start by explaining who we are and what we do. Who (or What) is HEF/HEF Connect? HEF (the Home Education Foundation) has been around since the 1990s, but the work of Brenda Dickinson and her husband Craig, who founded HEF, began in the 1980s. They were directly involved in getting home education legalized in Florida in 1985, and Brenda has been fighting to protect and expand those rights and freedoms ever since. She has been Florida's only full-time home education/parent-directed education lobbyist for nearly 40 years, and now Jason has come alongside to take on that mantle moving forward. Our primary focuses are protecting parents' rights and freedoms to direct their children's education (by lobbying and helping to shape the education-related statutes in Florida), providing accurate information to parents about the statutes related to parent-directed education, and advocating for parents when their rights as afforded by Florida statutes are being violated. To accomplish this, we have two organizations/arms: 1. HEF (our original lobbying arm, through which Brenda--and now also Jason--actively lobby for parents' rights during legislative season and beyond, and directly participate in helping to write and craft the text of the statutes surrounding parent-directed education in Florida) 2. HEF Connect, our newer non-profit arm, through which we now direct all of our community outreach, advocacy work, and work to expand non-traditional education opportunities for students. Is HEF/HEF Connect directly connected to Step Up for Students or AAA Scholarships? No. We are not a scholarship funding organization, nor are we an extension of the customer-service department for either of these organizations. Florida education statutes and freedoms for parent-directed education are our area of focus, not specifically scholarships. That said, obviously there are areas where statutes/freedoms overlap with scholarships, and we do have longstanding connections with some contacts at Step Up (and to a lesser extent, AAA), which are relationships built on trust developed over the work HEF/Brenda Dickinson has done the past 40 years. We do at times leverage those connections to ensure parents' rights and freedoms are being upheld in how scholarships related to parent-directed education (UA/PEP) are being implemented and administered, and in special circumstances, we can even advocate for individual parents when it is an extreme or longstanding issue, or when the issue is widespread or indicative of a broader policy or implementation issue. So, can you help me with my specific scholarship issue? As I said above... maybe! Many of our contacts at Step Up are in key, higher-up positions. We cannot flood them with every individual parent's issue, nor can we risk trivializing the relationships we've worked so hard to build with key contacts at the scholarship funding organizations (SFOs) by asking them to address simple issues that could be handled by the typical customer service channels. HOWEVER... There are some situations in which we can (and have!) advocated for individual parents and, through the gracious help of our contacts, aided in getting issues resolved. And when an issue has indicated a larger concern related to the statutes or to parent rights and freedoms, we are very active in immediately opening conversations with the SFOs to get the issues addressed. So which individual scholarship situations can we help with? We can advocate for individual parent/student scholarship situations if: 1. You have already gone through all the provided customer service/support channels with the SFO, and have either been outright denied help or given a response that directly contradicts information in the handbook/guide. (Inaccurate information from customer service is one that we do want to make our contacts aware of, so they can follow up on appropriate training.) 2. You have been waiting weeks/months for a response from customer service/support and have not heard back. (We can ask our contacts to look into situations where a support ticket has not been addressed or may have fallen through the cracks, but customer service issues do often take time, so we cannot forward situations where a ticket has recently been created unless it falls into #3 or #4 below.) 3. Your issue is part of a larger-scale or widespread issue that our Step Up contacts have specifically asked us to gather info on. (Occasionally there is a known glitch or a known issue where our contacts will request that we send them the individual parent/student info of those who have been affected, so they can look into those individual situations. When this happens, we will generally create a post here in the forum and/or I will respond to posts I see in PEP Facebook groups from parents who have experienced that issue and request those parents to email us.) 4. You believe your issue represents an infringement on parents' rights and freedoms as afforded by Florida statutes. (This last point is directly in our wheelhouse, and we do want to know if an SFO--or even a local school district--is failing to abide by statues in how they implement the scholarships, how they address individual students' situations, etc.) If your situation fits into any of the above 4 categories, then feel free to email us at info@flhef.org, and we'll see how we might be able to advocate for you! NOTE: If it's about a specific student's scholarship account with Step Up for Students, be sure to include the name of the parent on the account, the name of the student, and the email address used to log in to EMA or Legacy (so our contacts can look up the accurate account). On the other hand, here are some things that are not our role/we do not help with: • Checking the status on your child's scholarship application • Following up on customer service requests that were recently submitted • Checking the status on submitted reimbursements • Escalating normal customer service issues because you're in a hurry/on a time crunch • Appealing denied reimbursements (with the exception of it fitting into #3 or #4 above) • Questions about your specific child's SUFS/AAA account • Filing complaints or customer service requests for you (rather than you going through the normal channels first) The SFOs already have processes in place to handle those issues, and we ask that parents follow the provided channels for those. We love all the freedom-minded parents in our community, and we do our best to advocate for individual parents and students where we can! Thank you all for understanding our need to stay on mission and to preserve the vital relationships we've built with our contacts over the years. Sincerely, Crystal Crawford HEF Community Manager

One of the things on HEF's radar for the upcoming legislative season is to lobby for digital devices to be added to the PEP statutes as an approved expense for the Personalized Education Program scholarship funds. (If you aren't sure why digital devices like laptops, tablets, printers, etc., are not currently an approved use of PEP funds, please see this previous post.) If you'd like to help in these efforts to get digital devices added to the PEP statutes, please reach out NOW to your local legislators to voice your concerns and your desire to see it added! The more the legislators hear from their constituents on this issue during these months leading up to the next legislative season, the better the chance that they will have it on their radars for the upcoming sessions. We will be lobbying on the issue regardless, but parent voices are SO important! The legislators need to know when an issue matters to their constituents. Not sure what to say or how to contact your Representatives or Senators? See below! SOME TIPS: 1. Make sure you're contacting YOUR legislators! Legislators receive a lot of calls and emails. If a letter/email comes from someone who does not live in that representative's district, it may be simply discarded or deleted. Each representative advocates for the residents of their own district, so it's important to be sure you're reaching out to the right legislators. Be sure to include your address/county of location in a visible place in the subject or intro line of your email so they know right away that you are one of their constituents. You can easily find the name and contact info for your local Representatives and Senators using the links below. Find Your Representatives: https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/findyourrepresentative Find Your Senators: https://www.flsenate.gov/Senators/Find 2. Keep it brief and organized!  The legislators and the related staff are very busy, and long, detailed accounts can be overwhelming to read.  Instead, try to: 1. Quickly acknowledge/thank them ("I know you're very busy. Thank you for the work you do representing your constituents" or something like that.)  2. Include a quick context & your main reason for writing ("I'm a parent with 3 kids on PEP, and it would be hugely impactful for our family to be able to purchase digital devices with PEP scholarship funds" or whatever applies to you but lets them know who you are.) 3. QUICKLY LIST your supporting points/the reasons why this matters specifically to YOUR children... no more than 1-3 short paragraphs!  For this situation, it might look something like this: My son would greatly benefit from the virtual programs and online classes that are already approved expenses for the scholarship, but the laptop/tablet needed to access them is too expensive for us to afford. Digital materials (like downloads of printable worksheets, etc) are also a big part of our at-home lessons for all three of our PEP students, but our printer died last month, and since digital devices like printers are not an approved expense, we cannot afford to buy a new one. OR I want my child to be tech-savvy and know how to navigate today's digital world, but even though typing instruction programs, coding classes, etc., are available through the scholarship, we cannot afford the actual computer to use those programs. Etc. [THESE PARAGRAPHS SHOULD BE CUSTOMIZED FOR YOUR SPECIFIC CONCERNS AND YOUR SPECIFIC, PERSONAL REASONS FOR THOSE CONCERNS. Please do not just copy/paste the exact paragraphs from above. When legislators receive carbon-copy emails from several parents, they come across as less genuine.]           4. Thank them again (with your contact info if they want to follow-up), and exit! You don't have to use this EXACT formula, but a basic template like this will ensure your email is clear, concise, and easy to follow.  REMINDER:   When reaching out to your Senators and Representatives, keep it brief!  You want to communicate WHY this issue matters personally to you and your children, but in the BRIEFEST form possible.  This is not the best time to provide every detail... that could result in your main points not being received or understood.  I recommend you save the details for if they reach back out wanting to speak with you further. That way, you can at least be sure your MAIN points are being read/heard.   And we want EVERY parent’s voice to be heard!

Step Up released their FTC/FES-EO Purchasing Guide today! (This is the guide that applies to PEP, since PEP is an FTC scholarship.) You can find it on Step Up's website, or download it directly here! Here are some highlights of what's new and/or different in this year's guide: • Clarifications on policies and examples of potential violations that could result in losing the scholarship (see pages 3-4) • Clarifications on the Pre-Authorization process (see page 4) • Stated requirement for shipping address to be a Florida residential address (with the exception of active-duty members of the Armed Forces with permanent change of station orders) - see page 5 • Frequency of purchase for MANY categories amended to allow replacement sooner with pre-authorization • Multiples prohibition on MANY categories amended to allow for multiples on items less than $50, or even multiples over $50 with a pre-authorization, in some cases. • Clarification of "textbooks, workbooks, and other books" added under Books description (see page 6) • Added "but not limited to" phrase to MANY of the "including" lists within the categories. • Expanded description of "Digital Materials" to include productivity, behavioral, and/or educational applications; added clarifying restriction on family or multi-user subscriptions (see page 6). • Expanded "Educational Software and Subscriptions" to clarify that these should be safe for student use and provide opportunities for instruction, and expanded to allow (with an Educational Benefit form): Video/TV/online streaming service, musical streaming service, in-game purchases or credits, live television, social media, and family or multi-user software subscriptions (see page 7). • Amended the Electives category to require an Educational Benefit Form ONLY for specific types of Electives (see page 8). • Slightly expanded the options for eligibility criteria for Electives providers (see page 8). • Clarified the Field Trips description and moved it all into one place rather than having part of it in the end of the guide (see page 8-9). • Added "mobile hot-spots and streaming services" to Internet Resources (see page 10). Clarified that internet services will not be prorated to only cover the student's cost. • Changed Lab Fees and Materials description to read "are eligible" rather than "may be" (see page 11) and clarified that lab equipment should be safe for student use and provide opportunities for instruction. • Expanded the Musical Instruments section to say "are eligible" and to include insurance, maintenance, repair, service agreements, and tuning (see page 11). • Amended Physical Education (P.E.) to include Dance lessons and Dance supplies (including footwear), digital or video-based sports instruction, Nintendo Wii equipment or similar movement-based platforms, specialized or sports-specific footwear (but not sneakers), two or three wheeled bicycles, and watercrafts (see page 12). Exercise equipment requires an Educational Benefit Form. • Clarified/amended the list of "Prohibited items" under the Physical Education (P.E.) section (see page 12-13). • Added printer ink and wax filament to the School Supplies list (see page 13). • Made some clarifications to the Tuition and Fees at an Eligible Private School list on page 14 (this is for EO students, not PEP). • Added new sections for "Tuition and Fees for Part-Time PEP Students" and "Tuition and Fees for Hybrid Private School Program PEP Students" (see page 15). • Clarified that all other live instruction must meet the requirements for part-time tutoring services (see page 16--they have a typo here that says FES-UA, but they should be fixing that). • Added a clarification about Dual Enrollment (see page 17). • Removed the list of approved Virtual Instruction Programs and instead provided a link to the DOE's list (this makes sense, because the list will be changing as the DOE approves and/or removes providers from it) -- see page 18. • Expanded the description for Standardized Testing Fees (see pages 18-19). • Amended/clarified the qualification requirements for Part-Time Tutors and Choice Navigators (see pages 19-20). • Updated the "Prohibited Items" list to include prohibition on Business and Starlink RV internet services, concert tickets (except plays, musicals, or orchestra performances), a clarifying list for digital devices, a list of digital periphery devices, a caveat that allows for specialized sport-specific footwear, an exclusion on full-time online instruction, an exclusion on gaming subscription services, a clarification that the exclusion on single-admission leisure events also excludes equipment rental, exclusion on special events tickets and sporting events tickets, and exclusion on TVs over 55 inches. (See pages 22-23.) • REMOVED from the "Prohibited Items" list: video streaming services and television services, in-game and in-app purchases, and social media subscriptions. (See pages 22-23.) • Added an Appendix B clarifying/re-stating which items require Pre-Authorization (see page 24). • Added an Appendix C clarifying/re-stating which items require an Educational Benefit Form. Whew, that's a lot, right? But hopefully this list helps you narrow down your focus as you're browsing the new guide. We still highly recommend you read the Purchasing Guide for yourself and familiarize yourself deeply with it! There are a lot of nuances, and trust me, if you have PEP through Step Up for Students, this guide is your best friend when it comes to understanding eligible purchases and reimbursements!

(The latest update as of 6-28-24) The latest numbers: Step Up has received 49,000+ PEP applications for 2024-25 as of a few days ago, with about 45,000 awarded. What this means: If you are wanting PEP for the 2024-25 school year but are waiting to apply for whatever reason (such as waiting for your home education anniversary date to get your final eval, etc), you should consider applying as soon as possible. PEP is handled first-come, first serve, with income priority within the batches of people who apply. Also, PEP is an FTC scholarship (which also includes FTC-EO) and they both come from the same pool of funds. The FTC scholarship fund is a limited amount (based on how much the SFOs have raised, because it does not come from the school district pool of funds). The statutes say FTC scholarships can fund "no more than" a certain number of slots for PEP and those slots "may increase" by 40,000 each year (which for PEP this year is a total of 60,000). See 1002.395 (6)(d)1.: (d)1. For the 2023-2024 school year, may fund no more than 20,000 scholarships for students who are enrolled pursuant to paragraph (7)(b). The number of scholarships funded for such students may increase by 40,000 in each subsequent school year. This subparagraph is repealed July 1, 2027. We've been told that this year, 59,000 of those 60,000 potential slots are available through Step Up and 1,000 are available through AAA (which is a much smaller organization). But the reality is that each SFO must actually RAISE those funds. The state does not give the funds to them. They must raise the donations. We had a very candid conversation with Step Up leadership this week, where they told us about the situation with the FTC scholarship pool, and how the statutes do not guarantee a minimum number of scholarships, but instead set a ceiling for the number of scholarships as funds are available. But the FTC scholarship pool is used to fund both FTC-PEP and FTC-EO. And because the entire FTC funding pool is awarded on a first-come, first-served basis by application dates, they could potentially see the available FTC funds allocated to EO before all the potential PEP slots are awarded. This is not to raise fear, only to communicate the reality of the situation. If you are currently home education with your county, you may want to go ahead and apply. If you are awarded, we want you to know it is within your rights to complete your evaluation early and terminate your home education to switch to PEP. We just want everyone to be aware of the reality of the situation so you can make the best, most informed choices for your family.

We are at the FPEA convention this weekend, and I was able to get clarification from our Step Up contact on this question we've received a lot: What happens to any remaining PEP funds if you switch from PEP to UA? Good news -- you keep the funds! They will remain in your student's account and will be added to the amount you are awarded for UA.

We are at the FPEA convention this weekend, and I was able to get clarification from our Step Up contact on a question I've been getting often. About accessing remaining PEP funds after graduation: Parents have been asking whether they need to complete a renewal application even if their student is graduating this year, in order to have access to the student's remaining funds after graduation. The answer for anyone in the Legacy system is Yes. You will need to complete a renewal and check the box saying that your student has graduated but will be a "continuing student." However... The answer for anyone in EMA would be No. The EMA renewal application does not have that checkbox, and for students whose accounts are in EMA, you do not need to complete a renewal. You will automatically still have access to use any remaining funds for qualifying expenses after graduation. *A small update as of 5-29-24, after receiving clarification from our Step Up contact! Families that were previously in Legacy will still be renewing in EMA, but they should renew in order to have access to funds (since everything is being switched to EMA) and they will have the "continuing student" option on the application. Families that were in EMA the whole time do not need to do anything in order to have access to funds after graduation.

Step Up for Students has opened their applications for scholarships for the 2024-2025 school year. (PEP, EO, UA, transportation, etc.) Go to their main page at http://stepupforstudents.org If you're a renewal family, you'll need to Log In to your account to start the renewal process. If you're applying for the first time this year, click "Apply" on their home page or go to their "Scholarships" page and click "Apply" from there. They also have informational videos linked on their site to walk you through the process.

The latest version of the SUFS Purchasing Guide for UA no longer has the frequency limit on electives supplies! (This has also been removed for the latest PEP guide!) You can view the latest version of the guide below (or on our Downloads/Helpful Docs page).

The latest version of the SUFS Purchasing Guide for PEP no longer has the frequency limit on electives supplies! (This has also been removed for the latest UA guide!) You can view the latest version of the guide below (or on our Downloads/Helpful Docs page).

Here's a PDF of the latest FES-UA Purchasing Guide from Step Up. (You can also find a copy of it in the Downloadable Docs page on our site.)

Step Up released an updated FTC FES-EO Purchasing Guide for the remainder of the 2023-2024 school year which implements the "Agreed Upon" guidelines from December. You can find it on Step Up's website, but for ease of use, I'm also including it here and in our Downloadable Docs page.

The title of this post is pretty much self-explanatory. It can be difficult for those who are unfamiliar with homeschooling to visualize what it looks like on the day to day, and all the many ways the scholarship funds can be used to truly benefit the child's education--often in unconventional ways or ways they may not immediately expect. We'd love to have a whole thread of wonderful stories about how you, as a UA parent, are utilizing these funds to ENRICH your child's education, and the benefit of that for your children and your families this year. Drop them below!

The title of this post is pretty much self-explanatory. It can be difficult for those who are unfamiliar with homeschooling to visualize what it looks like on the day to day, and all the many ways the scholarship funds can be used to truly benefit the child's education--often in unconventional ways or ways they may not immediately expect. We'd love to have a whole thread of wonderful stories about how you, as a PEP parent, are utilizing these funds to ENRICH your child's education, and the benefit of that for your children and your families this year. Drop them below!