Personalized Education Program (PEP)

The Personalized Education Program (PEP) is a Florida education savings account for students who are not enrolled full time in a public or private school. It is paid from Florida Tax Credit (FTC) Scholarship money and run by two scholarship funding organizations (SFOs), Step Up For Students and AAA Scholarship Foundation; Sunshine State Kids Foundation does not offer it². For the 2026-27 school year PEP is closed to new students at every SFO¹, with a narrow exception for children in foster care and children of active-duty military families.

Is PEP open for 2026-27?

No, not for new students. The law sets one application window for new and renewing PEP students, February 1, 2026 to April 30, 2026³, and renewing students must be funded before any new student gets an award⁴. Where each SFO stands:

• Step Up For Students said PEP was at capacity for new students by March 12, 2026⁵. Eligible new applicants it could not fund are held in a "Pending Review" status⁶.
• AAA Scholarship Foundation lists its PEP application as closed⁷ for new applicants; its deadline for new and renewal applications was April 30, 2026⁸.
• Sunshine State Kids Foundation does not offer PEP² at all.

The foster care and military exception

The law lets students in foster care or out-of-home care, and dependents of active-duty military members, apply for PEP outside the regular window³. This does not create extra seats:

• Step Up For Students lists these as its PEP deadline exceptions (active duty military dependent; foster or out of home care⁹) and accepts such applications until April 15, 2027¹⁰. It says an exception does not get around PEP's capacity limit.
• AAA Scholarship Foundation says foster care, out-of-home care and military-dependent applicants may apply at any time, but funding is not guaranteed⁷.

The bullying exception tied to the old Hope Scholarship applies only to the Private School Scholarship, not to PEP. See the Hope Program explainer.

Who PEP is for

A PEP student must meet the FTC eligibility rules: a Florida resident (or the dependent of an active-duty service member with orders to Florida) who is eligible to enroll in a Florida public school in kindergarten through grade 12, or who held a Hope scholarship in 2023-24¹¹. On top of that, the student must not be enrolled full time in a public or private school¹².

• Age. Step Up For Students says the child must be 5 on or before Sep 1, and younger than 21 on Sep 1¹³.
• Registration. Step Up For Students says PEP families register with the SFO and do not file a home-education letter of intent with the school district¹³.
• Part-time private school. A PEP student may attend a private school part time, and may attend a hybrid school that offers on-site instruction at least 2 days a week¹⁴ alongside a student learning plan. Step Up For Students says the private school must take part in FTC to enroll PEP students part time¹⁵.
• Income. Income is not an eligibility test. It only sets the order in which new applicants are funded¹⁶: renewing students first, then new applicants at or below 185% of the federal poverty level or in foster care, then new applicants from 185% to 400%, then everyone else on a first-come, first-served basis¹⁷.
• Student learning plan. Families submit an annual student learning plan, and the SFO funds the account once it is in¹². Step Up For Students' deadline for 2026-27 funding was May 31, 2026¹⁸; AAA Scholarship Foundation funds the account only after it reviews a complete plan¹⁹.

How much PEP pays in 2026-27

PEP uses the same award table as the FTC and FES-EO private-school scholarships. The amount depends on the student's county and grade: from $7,463 to $12,217 for 2026-27, with a statewide median of $8,312²⁰. The statute sets no separate PEP formula, so the SFOs' published tables are the working source²¹.

• When money arrives. Step Up For Students pays the award in four equal quarterly amounts²². AAA Scholarship Foundation lists its PEP funding dates as September 1, November 1, February 1, April 1¹⁹, subject to change.
• Balance limit. No new deposit is made into a PEP account whose balance is above $24,000²³. That is a deposit stop, not a cap on what you can hold.
• How families spend. AAA Scholarship Foundation says its PEP families access funds by reimbursement²⁴. Step Up For Students families use the EMA platform; see our EMA guide.
• What it pays for. Under Step Up For Students' 2026-27 rules, standard PEP uses include part-time private school classes, home education instructional programs, part-time and full-time tutoring, curriculum and instructional materials, and testing. Therapies such as ABA or speech therapy are not PEP uses; they belong to FES-UA²⁵. Each SFO publishes its own purchasing guide, and their rules differ in places; see FAQ: spending.

The PEP cap and its repeal

The law caps PEP at 140,000²⁶ students for 2026-27. The cap grew each year on a fixed schedule: 20,000 (2023-24), 60,000 (2024-25), 100,000 (2025-26), 140,000 (2026-27)²⁶. It is a ceiling, not a promise of seats. AAA Scholarship Foundation describes it as a statewide limit²⁷. For scale, 84,140²⁸ PEP students were funded in 2025-26 as of November 2025, according to legislative staff.

The subsection that sets the cap is repealed on July 1, 2027²⁶. Unless the 2027 Legislature changes the law, there will be no statutory PEP cap for 2027-28. Step Up For Students has not published 2027-28 application dates yet²⁹; watch the K-12 scholarship deadlines page.

What PEP families can do now

If your Step Up For Students application is in "Pending Review"

Step Up For Students offered unfunded new applicants two routes⁶:

1. A referral to AAA Scholarship Foundation. AAA Scholarship Foundation said it could take up to 6,500³⁰ referred students. Family consent was due August 7, 2026³¹ and acceptance by September 30, 2026³². Step Up For Students chose which students were referred, and the number actually transferred has not been published.
2. A switch to FES-UA. Decline PEP and apply for the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities (FES-UA) by October 30, 2026, 5:00 p.m. Eastern³³. FES-UA is only for students with a qualifying disability, and it can also be used by students who are not in school full time²⁵.

If you hoped to switch into PEP from another scholarship

At Step Up For Students, a switch into PEP had to be made by April 30, 2026³⁴; PEP cannot be entered in the fall switching window. See FAQ: switching programs and SFOs.

If you are moving between SFOs

Step Up For Students says PEP dollars do not move³⁵ from one SFO to another, because each SFO raises its own FTC funds, and AAA Scholarship Foundation says the same. AAA Scholarship Foundation adds that a prior PEP balance may still be used with the original SFO.

If your child will attend a private school full time

The Private School Scholarship (FES-EO and FTC) is open to new 2026-27 applicants. Step Up For Students' new-student deadline is November 15, 2026³⁶ and AAA Scholarship Foundation's is November 15, 2026³⁷. See FES-EO and FTC.

How PEP differs from neighbouring programs

• FES-EO and FTC must put money toward full-time private school tuition and fees first³⁸; tutoring is paid only from what is left. PEP pays for tutoring as a standard use, with no tuition to cover first²⁵.
• FES-UA serves students with disabilities and pays for therapies; it is still taking new 2026-27 applications while capacity lasts³⁹.
• The federal Education Freedom Tax Credit starts in 2027. Whether its scholarships can pay for PEP-style home learning is not yet settled⁴⁰.

Where to go

• Step Up For Students: PEP family handbook
• AAA Scholarship Foundation: Personalized Education Program

Related

• All Florida K-12 scholarship programs
• Florida Tax Credit Scholarship (FTC), which funds PEP
• 2026-27 award amounts by county
• FAQ: eligibility and FAQ: amounts and balances
• Step Up For Students, AAA Scholarship Foundation and Sunshine State Kids Foundation profiles
• Compare the scholarship organizations
• For providers: which programs can pay you