Short answer:
Yes. All PEP students must submit test results at the end of the school year, even if not renewing PEP for the following year. Submitting test results at the end of each school year is a requirement of the PEP program, and part of what parents agree to when they accept the scholarship funds.
The longer answer, if you want it is as follows:
Some parents (and customer service reps at Step Up, apparently) have been confused on this, and some have been saying test results are only needed if you're renewing the scholarship.
However, the statutes actually list the testing as a requirement parents must agree to in the affidavit they complete as part of their initial application for PEP with Step Up or AAA, and that these results must be submitted prior to renewal. This part about renewal is a timeframe for submitting the results, not a condition that would exempt parents from completing the requirement itself.
See this screenshot of the statutes directly from 1002.395 (the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship statutes) below, and not the highlighted portions:
So, breaking this down a bit more:
This is the section of FTC statutes (1002.395) that list Parent and Student Responsibilities.
Section (a) is for those using FTC-EO at private schools or other FTC scholarships as full-time students at a public or private school. Section (b), which I've highlighted, is for those who are taking an FTC scholarship but will not be enrolled full time in a public or private school--i.e., FTC-PEP students.
Section (b)2. lists the criteria that are included in the agreement parents must sign when applying for an FTC program. (For Step Up, for example, this agreement is part of the online scholarship application and parents were/are required to check the compliance boxes and sign this agreement as part of the scholarship application process.)
(b)2. d. states the requirement to have the student take a nationally norm-referenced test (standardized test) from the DOE's approved list, and to submit the results to the SFO (Step Up or AAA) before the student's program renewal.
This little "and" is very important, because it means that the students must be tested and that the results must be submitted in a timeframe prior to renewal, NOT that a renewal is the only reason for which parents would need to submit the results.
This condition is one of the statutory requirements for accepting the scholarship funds, and failure to comply with this requirement as you complete a school year in which your child was a PEP student would be a breach of the agreement and of the program requirements.
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We'd been holding off on posting about this (even though it's a question we're getting a lot!) because we wanted to communicate with our contacts in Step Up's legal department to verify how Step Up was interpreting these statutes and to ensure we were all on the same page without any confusion. At this point, we have verified and wanted to share not only the answer but the explanation for why.
I hope this helps clarify some of the confusion floating around about this!
They are still not being clear that this is necessary for those not continuing with PEP. Can you let your contact know that this information isn’t being portrayed in the documents they’re releasing?