Note: This post has been updated with the latest, most accurate information as of June 3, 2024. Yes. You will need to submit a letter of termination to the county. PEP students are separate from "home education" students in statute. If you are shown to be enrolled in another attendance track besides PEP when the SFOs and the DOE do the cross-checks for funding eligibility (public school, private school, home education, etc.), then your child might be declared ineligible for funding. BUT (this is important!) -- only terminate your other method of schooling after you are SURE you have the PEP scholarship (to avoid potential truancy issues). You should receive an award email from your scholarship funding organization (Step UP or AAA, whichever you chose to apply through) that specifically states your child has been awarded the PEP scholarship. Wait until you have this confirmation.
(If you are uncertain of your status, you can always contact Step Up or AAA Scholarship Foundation directly to ask.) [Another note: Terminating your home education program may seem scary, but it is actually a protection of parents' freedoms to have the two programs separated as independent attendance tracks, and was done intentionally. (See the forum post about this, linked at the bottom of this one.) If you later change your mind, you can decline the PEP scholarship and re-submit a letter of intent to the county. Also, PEP students by law still have the same "flexibilities and opportunities" as home education students, and the PEP statutes even refer to a section of the home education statutes to confirm this.]
You can also see these related posts in our forum for more info:
On how to know when to submit your letter of termination:
LATEST UPDATE on this as of May 24, 2024: flhef.org/forum/pep-faq/5-24-24-updates-re-using-remaining-funds-after-graduation-and-when-to-terminate-unenroll-from-other-schooling-options Previous posts on this topic: https://www.flhef.org/forum/pep-faq/important-update-if-you-received-an-email-in-august-2023-from-step-up-confirming-you-have-been-awarded-pep
On how to create a letter of termination/a template to use, and info on where to send it:
https://www.flhef.org/forum/pep-faq/where-can-i-find-a-letter-of-termination-to-submit-to-my-county
More about the reasons the letter of termination is required (and why PEP is separated from typical home education in statute):
I have a technical question regarding the letter of termination. I emailed our district at the beginning of August when 3 of my students received notice of their PEP award. My letter only stated that I was terminating their home education program with the district. I did not state a reason because I do not believe that the statute requires this. I received a reply email a week later stating that the letter of termination had been received and their files had been updated. No problem. I then decided to apply to StepUp for my 4th and youngest student (I was not sure I wanted her to do the standardized testing at first). When it was time to send in her letter of termination, I sent in one with the exact same wording as before. This time, the district representative responded asking for a reason for termination. I replied as politely as I could figure out how... I said that I did not see it required in the statute to give this information and that if I had overlooked a policy or statute to please let me know. Her boss sent me an email today stating that they "must enter a reason for her leaving homeschool so that we can drop her as a student. We must enter a code in our system. The goal is for us to know where the student is moving to based on the parent's information to us." I would love some guidance on this. Am I correct that I am not required by statute to provide this information? The statute spells out what a Letter of Intent must include, but it says nothing about the letter of termination. I don't want to be rude, but I also want to stand my ground. She can enter in any code she wants to, in my opinion! And they obviously figured out something to enter in for my other students. Can you please correct me if I am wrong in my thinking? I want to represent home education families well, and I also want to protect our privacy. Thank you!
Note for those following this FAQ: I just updated the post to include links to other related posts in our forum.
I am aware, Thank you. Certain information I prefer asking our lobbiest directly to avoid intaking any misinformation and spreading it.
I started a Facebook group for PEP so that parents can ask questions and get help. https://www.facebook.com/groups/927443131872013/?ref=share