Florida Will Help Pay for
Private School or Homeschool

A lot of families move to Lakewood Ranch and Parrish for the schools. But I talk to just as many who, once they're here, start weighing private school or homeschool instead — and assume it's out of reach financially. Most don't realize the state of Florida will help pay for it, through a program called Step Up For Students, and that a lot of families qualify regardless of income.

I'm not an education expert, but this comes up often enough in conversations with clients who have school-age kids that it's worth laying out plainly: what it actually covers, and how easy the application really is.

What Step Up For Students Actually Is

Step Up For Students is the nonprofit that administers Florida's state-funded K-12 scholarships. It's not one program — it's a few, and which one fits you depends on whether you're looking at private school or home education.

If You Want Private School

The Florida Tax Credit Scholarship (FTC) and Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options (FES-EO) put an average of around $8,000 toward private school tuition and related costs. Any Florida K-12 student is eligible to apply — there's no hard income ceiling that disqualifies you, though priority (faster processing, first in line for funding) goes to households under roughly 400% of the federal poverty level, about $121,000/year for a family of four.

The good news if you're just hearing about this now: applications for the 2026-27 school year are still open for new students through November 15, 2026. You haven't missed it.

If You Want to Homeschool

Home education has its own program, the Personalized Education Program (PEP) — an education savings account rather than a straight tuition scholarship, which matters because of how flexible it is. PEP funds can go toward curriculum, private tutoring, standardized testing, online or hybrid course providers, dual enrollment, and more, so you're building a program around your kid instead of paying one school's bill.

Here's the part I want to be straight with you about: PEP applications for the 2026-27 school year closed April 30, 2026. If you're reading this now, that window's passed for this school year. My advice — sign up on stepupforstudents.org for next year's notification now, so you're not scrambling next spring. The private school scholarships above are still very much open if tuition assistance for this year is what you need in the meantime.

How Easy the Application Actually Is

This is the part that surprises people. It's genuinely three steps:

• Gather your documents — proof of Florida residency (two accepted documents, like a utility bill and driver's license), proof of your child's age, and pay stubs if you want to be considered for priority. That last one's optional.
• Create an account on Step Up For Students' portal and build your family profile.
• Review and submit — check your application, sign electronically, done. You can save it as a draft and finish later if you get interrupted.

No essays, no interviews, no complicated financial disclosures unless you're opting into priority review. It's built to be done in one sitting.

The Bottom Line

Whether a family chooses public, private, or homeschool is deeply personal, and it's not my place to weigh in on which is right for you. But I do think every family in Manatee and Sarasota Counties with school-age kids should at least know this money exists before they rule an option out over cost. It changes the math for a lot of people.

If you're relocating here with kids and trying to sort out schools alongside neighborhoods, that's a conversation I have often — happy to talk through what different areas offer, scholarship money included.