Crystal, I think EA students might still be eligible for merit scholarships at some colleges but your point is well made and it is an important consideration for DE/EA students. UCF will not consider EA graduates as FTIC or award merit scholarships, but I believe other colleges still do. Families need to do their research early! EA should not affect Bright Futures since that scholarship isn't coming directly from the college. For the OP: PBSC has already worked out the details for enrolling PEP students and they reference the process on their DE web pages. PBSC also states that books are covered for both DE and EA students.

Yes, if you are awarded & accept the PEP scholarship, then you will need to terminate your home education program with the county (send letter of termination along with the annual evaluation). Students who are awarded PEP are considered to be enrolled with the SFO (either Step Up or AAA) for that school year and they are not allowed to be registered with the county or with any type of private school /umbrella. Being registered with StepUp/AAA is a new way for students to meet the Florida attendance requirement and it currently only applies to PEP students. However, when it comes to Dual Enrollment and Bright Futures, PEP students are still being handled in the same way as HomeEd students. The process for your son to do EA in the fall should be the same as it was for your his junior year of DE except that you would checkmark the PEP box on the application and then provide PBSC with proof that he was awarded the PEP scholarship. Step Up is now providing an Award ID document as confirmation of enrollment and scholarship type so this will be a handy document to give to PBSC. PEP students are still exempt from tuition, books, and lab fees. There are usually additional fees that are not covered, like a parking pass, ID card, library fines, etc. Books are typically secured by book voucher. You can read through the current PBSC articulation agreement for specifics but keep in mind it expires at the end of June. They should be releasing a new version, for the 2024-2025 school year, soon: https://www.palmbeachstate.edu/dualenroll/documents/2022-2024-Dual-Articulation-Agreement.pdf Regarding Bright Futures, PEP students just need to meet the same requirements as HomeEd students (test score and service/work hours). Test scores are sent electronically to BF through the FDOE test repository and you will send his service/work hours documentation to your county education office so that they can electronically verify his hours in the Bright Futures portal. Your son should create his student account with Bright Futures prior to sending documentation to the county. The Bright Futures application opens for seniors on Oct 1st of each year!

This is incredibly helpful information! Thank you!

SUFS hasn't revealed the exact process on either side, but it sounds like students would still be enrolled in PEP, as indicated by their reference to the Student Learning Plan which the parent must complete within the portal. From an educational perspective, it makes sense to allow participating private schools (those that already meet the requirements for accepting scholarship funds – full-time brick and mortar with annual testing) to continue serving students in this agreeable capacity and, in my opinion, the easiest way to deal with the attendance issue is for private schools to forego being the school of record for their hybrid student population. These students would not be included in the school's annual report and, thus, attendance compliance would still be maintained by the SFO – by both being registered with the SFO for PEP and also by submitting the annual assessment. Essentially, the state is allowing participating schools to offer a type of HEIP alongside their full-time program. There are already plenty of HEIPs that operate as "hybrid schools" and this new legislation is just a provision for allowing already established private schools the same option. However, if private schools offering a hybrid option do report attendance for those students, then the official school of record will be entirely unclear and we will soon be asking new questions such as, can the private school issue transcripts and diplomas to their hybrid students? Or do these Hybrid-PEP students still graduate by parent affidavit? SUFS needs to be very consistent about the attendance component for PEP students to avoid opening a can of worms regarding the school of record and graduation/diplomas. Grab your popcorn! 😄

You don't submit them to the county until your child's senior year. The Bright Futures application portal opens on Oct 1st each year and that is when you can create his/her student account. Then you can send the service or work hours documentation to the county and ask them to verify it for Bright Futures. Bright Futures has their system set up so that counties and schools can verify hours electronically. You just need to provide some basic identifying student information and the proper documentation of hours. Your county will know what to do. The deadline to earn hours is the student's high school graduation date. However, the deadline to submit documentation is August 31st. The Bright Futures handbook has good information: https://www.floridastudentfinancialaidsg.org/PDF/BFHandbookChapter1.pdf

Thank you for this recap! Can you clarify this question for me: My private school is having trouble enrolling us as PEP students part time, is there a clear process for this? Is this referring to a hybrid school situation? Or is this concerning a student being enrolled part time with a full time school?

Thank you for this update!