Florida Homeschool Funding & PEP Guide (2026): The Personalized Education Program, Amounts & How to Apply

What the Florida PEP Is

PEP is an option under the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, created by House Bill 1 in 2023. The department describes it plainly: parents direct the education of PEP students, and receive access to funds in an education savings account for their student. You spend the account on approved education costs rather than receiving cash.

It is open to Florida residents who are eligible to enroll in kindergarten through grade 12 and who are not enrolled full time in a public or private school. Your child must be at least 5 by September 1 and under 21 on or before September 1 of the year you apply. Families apply to one of two scholarship funding organizations approved by the Florida Department of Education. Step Up For Students is one of them, and it is the one most families encounter, but it is worth knowing there is a second.

One point the department makes that gets lost in most write-ups: both PEP students and home education students are considered homeschoolers in Florida. Choosing PEP does not put your child in a school. It changes who you register with and what you file. The full legal framework for the home education route is covered in the Florida homeschooling guide.

How Much You Receive

There is no single PEP number, and any page that gives you one is rounding away something that matters. The Legislature sets the amounts each year in the state budget, and Step Up publishes them as a county-by-county table in three grade bands: kindergarten through grade 3, grades 4 through 8, and grades 9 through 12. Your award follows your county of residence as listed on your application.

For 2026-27 the published figures run from $7,463, for grades 9 to 12 in Volusia, up to $12,217, for kindergarten through grade 3 in Monroe. Most counties sit in the $8,000s and $9,000s. Alachua is a fair middle example at $8,320 for K-3, $7,736 for grades 4 to 8, and $7,545 for grades 9 to 12. Note the pattern inside every county: the younger the child, the larger the award. A family with a kindergartner and a tenth grader will see two different numbers.

Look up your own county in the published table before you plan anything, and check it again each year, because these are reset annually. Funds are spent through an approved marketplace and reimbursement system rather than paid to a personal bank account. Before you plan how to spend the award, knowing where your child stands academically gives you a real starting point. A free reading assessment shows your child's current level so the money goes toward curriculum that fits rather than materials you adjust mid-year.

PEP Is Not the Home Education Program

This is the distinction to get straight before you apply, and it is the one this page previously got wrong. Florida's home education program, covered in the Florida homeschooling guide, means filing a Notice of Intent with your county, keeping a portfolio, and completing one annual evaluation by one of five approved methods, with the result going to your school district. PEP is a different registration, not an addition to that one.

Here is what actually changes, in the department's own terms. PEP students register with a scholarship funding organization; home education students register with their school district. Parents of PEP students prepare and submit a student learning plan to the organization each year, before initial approval and again before each renewal, and no similar requirement exists for home education. And PEP students take a norm-referenced test annually, with results submitted to the organization, while home education students complete the five-method annual evaluation for their district.

That last one is worth sitting with, because it corrects something this page used to imply. PEP does not remove annual assessment. Both routes assess every year. What changes is the form it takes and who receives it. If you were considering PEP as a way around the annual evaluation, that is not what it does. You can choose from the department's approved list of norm-referenced tests, or arrange with your district to have your child sit the statewide assessments instead. Districts administer the statewide tests but are not responsible for administering the norm-referenced ones.

What you do not give up is more than most families expect. Section 1002.01 gives PEP students the same flexibility and opportunities as home education students: interscholastic extracurricular activities, the Bright Futures Scholarship Program, dual enrollment, and eligibility for admission to Florida College System institutions and state universities. The scholarship does not cost you the homeschool pathways.

If you are on the home education program now and want to switch, there is a specific step. The department says that if a home education student receives PEP funds, parents should file a written notice of termination for the home education program and alert the district to the student's participation in PEP. It is not enough to stop filing. Send the termination in writing and tell the district where your child has gone.

What You Can Spend It On

The department publishes the eligible categories rather than an open-ended list. They cover instructional materials and curriculum; tuition or fees for a home education program, for part-time enrollment at an eligible private school, at an eligible postsecondary institution, or for an approved preapprenticeship program; part-time tutoring by a certified educator; approved virtual and online providers, including Florida Virtual School as a private paying student; testing fees for norm-referenced tests, Advanced Placement exams, industry certification exams and other assessments; annual evaluation of educational progress by a certified teacher; contracted services from a public school or district, including classes; and services from a Choice Navigator.

Two things worth knowing about the mechanics. A Choice Navigator advises on options, applications, curriculum selection and postsecondary planning, and you are never required to use one. And taking a payment, refund or rebate of PEP funds in any form puts a parent in violation of scholarship program law and can lead to eligibility being denied or revoked, so keep everything inside the approved system. For the authoritative list of what qualifies and how reimbursement works, read the PEP Family Handbook from your scholarship funding organization before you buy anything.

Most families direct the largest share toward a strong core curriculum and use the remainder for tutoring, classes or materials that address a particular need. Mapping the year before you spend makes the award go further. Our curriculum planning guide walks through what to teach at each stage, what to skip, and how to sequence a year before you commit funds to specific materials.

How to Apply

PEP runs under the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, so you apply for FTC through an eligible non-profit scholarship funding organization administering the program. There are two approved organizations and the department maintains the list. Step Up For Students is the one most Florida families use. The organization collects and evaluates your documentation, decides eligibility, and manages the education savings account.

Timing is the thing to watch. The window opens and closes earlier than families expect, often in spring for the following school year, and late applications are not accepted. Applications for 2026-27 closed on April 30, 2026, which gives you a sense of the shape of the calendar, though the date moves every cycle and you should never plan against last year's. Step Up runs an interest list that notifies you when the next year's applications open, which is the simplest way to avoid missing it. Once you are awarded, you submit your student learning plan, connect to the approved marketplace, and manage purchases through the program system.

Keep copies of your application, your award notice, your student learning plan and your test results. You renew every year, and each renewal asks for the plan and the assessment results before it is approved.

Is PEP Right for Your Family?

Weigh three things. First, the money, which is real and which you should look up rather than estimate: for most counties the 2026-27 award sits somewhere in the $8,000s or $9,000s per child, and it is larger for younger children. Second, the paperwork, which is a swap rather than a saving: a student learning plan and a norm-referenced test each year, instead of a Notice of Intent and the five-method evaluation. Third, the timing, because the window is early and unforgiving.

One more factor that is easy to miss. Any family may apply regardless of income, but when demand runs past the money available, funding priority goes first to households at or below 185% of the federal poverty level and to children in foster or out-of-home care, and then to households up to 400%. Above that, you can still apply, and you are last in the queue. The department also noted a cap of 100,000 PEP students for 2025-26, removed in later years. If your income is well above the threshold, apply early and have a plan that works without the money.

If the funding changes what you can offer and the annual test does not trouble you, PEP is hard to look past. If you would rather deal with your district than an organization, or the five-method evaluation suits your child better than a norm-referenced test, the home education program stays open. Use the Florida homeschooling guide to understand that route in detail before you choose.

A Note from Homeschool Teacher Guide: What This Really Means for You

We had two things wrong on this page until August 2026, and both were the kind that change a decision. We said PEP awards were "about $8,000." They range from $7,463 to $12,217 for 2026-27 depending on your county and your child's grade, and a flat number was doing families in higher-award counties a disservice. And we implied PEP removes the annual evaluation. It does not. PEP has its own annual norm-referenced test, submitted to your scholarship organization before each renewal. If either of those was the reason you leaned one way, look again.

What we would do: find your county in the published amounts table before you budget anything, join the interest list so the application window does not pass you by, and read the Family Handbook before your first purchase rather than after. If you are switching from home education, file the written notice of termination and tell your district. And know going in that both routes are homeschooling in Florida's eyes, both assess once a year, and PEP keeps your access to Bright Futures, dual enrollment and extracurriculars.