Some Florida parents who homeschool their children and rely on a certain kind of state scholarship are being denied the funding. But it's unclear how many are affected and why, since financial projections released this week appear to show the program has tens of millions more than it did in March.
The Personalized Education Program, or PEP, is a Florida-sponsored voucher program that gives out an average of $8,000 a year to reimburse home-schoolers for private lessons, curriculum, supplies and more.
The program began in 2023 and is funded mainly by private donations, which companies make in exchange for a state tax credit. It was given out to 20,000 students the first year, and has grown steadily ever since.
Controversy has surrounded the program, as some families have been reimbursed for furniture, Disney passes and other items that some may find questionable. Some homeschool parents also complain that the widespread availability of state-sponsored money for homeschool has led providers to hike the prices of curriculum and private lessons.
Lindsay Poverdomo-Joly is a mom of two in Coral Springs who uses PEP to pay for specialized writing and publishing courses that interest her homeschooled teenage son.
"The fact is, if these kids are homeschooling, they deserve the same opportunities all children do, and the PEP funding does make that possible," she said.
"You don't want to see a child who cannot receive art education, who cannot receive music education, who cannot attend a PE class because the funding is now gone and they relied on that."
Poverdomo-Joly said she doesn't personally know anyone who has been denied, but added, "I can see it being catastrophic for a lot of families."
She gets funding through AAA, one of the companies that distributes the money. Most parents get funded through Step Up For Students.
In late July and early August, comments began exploding on Facebook groups dedicated to PEP scholarships as parents complained they were denied the funding and couldn't understand why.
Asked for comment, Scott Kent, spokesman for Step Up For Students, said a record number of people applied for PEP, which he described as "highly popular with families."
"After 20,000 PEP students were funded the first year – the maximum initially allowed under state law – the number has grown to over 100,000 interested applicants," Kent said in an email to WUSF.
Where the money comes from
State law allows up to 140,000 students in the PEP program, but there's not enough money from private contributions to the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship program to pay for all of them.
So SUFS has made renewing students a first priority and began issuing awards to students by household income level, "with the first priority being given to students with household incomes less than 185% of the federal poverty level. Second priority is given to students with household income levels that exceed 185% but do not exceed 400% of the federal poverty level," Kent said.
Other income levels, and parents who did not answer that question, "are processed and awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, should funding be available," he added.
Denials could also be issued "if they fail to submit a student learning plan (SLP) or the student's scores on a state-approved, nationally norm-referenced test by May 31, as required annually by Florida law," Kent said.
Financial projections in March showed several thousand students might be denied because there just wasn't enough money to pay for 100,000 scholarships.
But an update to those numbers, reviewed Tuesday by a committee of staff from the legislature and governor's office, suddenly showed millions more than before, enough to pay for more than 3,600 scholarships.
The August projections showed 3,461 could have been funded in 2025-26 as a result of a higher ending balance, on the order of $29 million more than in the March forecast.
Members of the Education Estimating Conference in Tallahassee appeared befuddled by the changes, in a meeting Tuesday, August 11, that aired on the Florida Channel.
"So, I am generally confused," said Florida House budget chief Denise Potvin, after the scholarship outlook was presented.
"That's OK. It's— it changed a lot," said Elisabeth Goodman, from the Office of Economic and Demographic Research.
"It kind of begs the question: Do they still have capacity for funding the 3,461 in current year?" Potvin asked.
"Well, if there's a balance of $29 (million), then that would say they do, right? From a money standpoint, at least," said Tim Elwell, staff director for the Senate appropriations committee on education.
He said the numbers were hard to understand, and even harder to explain to members of the public who have been reaching out to lawmakers.
"I think all of us are getting emails and things from constituents," said Elwell at the meeting. "You know, constituents reaching out to their elected officials about denial letters for PEP. So, when we have a conference and … somebody's watching and they see there's money left and they got a denial letter, we have to be able to explain that to somebody, and we can't."
Elwell said it's "imperative" to get an explanation from Step Up For Students, which had no representatives at the meeting, to explain the numbers SUFS provided.
"Why are you telling me there are denial letters when there's $29 million left on the table?" said Elwell.
Asked for comment, Kent said SUFS does not "have finalized numbers on the number of PEP students to be funded."
Kent said he could not respond to specific questions about where the extra $29 million came from and how it will be used by press time, "because we are still working with the state to understand and clarify their questions."
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