District Home Education vs. PEP: What’s the Difference?

If you are preparing to educate your child at home in Florida, you have two primary state-recognized options: District Home Education and the Personalized Education Program (PEP).

Both can mean learning outside a conventional public or private classroom. Florida law still treats them as entirely distinct:

• District Home Education is parent-directed, parent-funded, and registered with your county school district.
• PEP is a state scholarship (an Education Savings Account) administered through a Scholarship Funding Organization (SFO).

Understanding the difference matters before you file paperwork or buy materials. Florida law does not allow a student to be enrolled in both at the same time.

PEP is not simply “a homeschool scholarship.” Mixing the names hides a real paperwork difference.

District Home Education is Florida’s long-standing, independent home education model under Section 1002.41 of the Florida Statutes.

What the law calls it

Under Florida law, a home education program is the sequentially progressive instruction of a student directed by the parent, in order to satisfy attendance requirements under s. 1002.41 and s. 1003.21(1), F.S. It is not a school and not a private-school choice scholarship. The parent directs the child’s education.

Registration: Notice of Intent

To establish the program, submit a written Notice of Intent to the superintendent of schools in your county of residence within 30 days of beginning. The notice needs the child’s name, birthdate, and address, plus the parent’s signature.

The district registers the program. Districts do not have statutory authority to approve or deny your curriculum, calendar, or educational approach. Confirm your district’s current filing procedures on the FLDOE Home Education pages or with your county office.

Curriculum and portfolio

You determine schedule, materials, and approach. The state and district do not review or approve textbooks or lesson plans.

By law (s. 1002.41(1)(b), F.S.) you must keep an educational portfolio: a log of educational activities made at the same time as instruction, plus samples of writings, worksheets, workbooks, or creative materials. Keep the portfolio for two years. It must be available for inspection by the superintendent upon 15-day written notice.

Annual evaluation — five statutory options

You must provide your county superintendent with an annual educational evaluation that shows progress corresponding to your child’s abilities. Florida law lists five options (s. 1002.41(1)(f), F.S.):

1. A Florida-certified teacher reviews the portfolio and talks with the student.
2. A nationally normed student achievement test, administered by a certified teacher.
3. A state student assessment administered by a certified teacher at a location and under conditions the district approves.
4. An evaluation administered by a psychologist holding a valid, active license under s. 490.005, F.S. (this is the statutory name of option 4 — not medical advice from this hub).
5. Another valid measurement the superintendent and parent agree on before the evaluation.

Extracurriculars and dual enrollment

• Craig Dickinson Act (s. 1006.15, F.S.): Registered home education students have a statutory path to interscholastic extracurriculars and public school sports at the zoned school (or an approved school under FHSAA guidelines), if they meet the usual academic and conduct rules. Confirm current school and association rules with the school and district.
• Dual enrollment (s. 1007.271(13), F.S.): High school home education students may participate in tuition-free dual enrollment at Florida College System institutions and state universities under home education articulation agreements. Confirm current agreements with the college or university.

PEP is an Education Savings Account scholarship created under the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship statute (s. 1002.395(7), F.S.).

What the law calls it

PEP is a scholarship program, not district Home Education. A PEP participant is a scholarship student whose parent directs education outside a standard full-time public or private school, using scholarship funds in an official digital account.

Who administers it

PEP is not supervised by your local school district. It is administered by Scholarship Funding Organizations under FLDOE oversight. Official program pages name:

• Step Up For Students (Education Market Assistant / EMA)
• AAA Scholarship Foundation (Scholarship Management Platform / SMP)

Applications, renewals, expense review, and annual documents run through your SFO — not this hub.

Funding and spend rails

Awarded PEP students receive an Education Savings Account. Funds are meant for educational costs that meet current program rules.

• Step Up materials name MyScholarShop and reimbursement rails inside EMA.
• AAA materials name reimbursement through SMP.
• Find Providers is an in-EMA rail. It has no public standalone URL. Do not invent one.

We do not list scholarship award amounts on this hub. The Legislature sets funding annually; confirm current eligibility, award details, and purchase rules in your SFO portal.

This hub does not approve, verify, or predict payment.

Annual accountability

• Student Learning Plan (SLP): Parents submit an annual plan to the SFO describing goals, curriculum, and approach for the year.
• Norm-referenced testing: PEP requires an annual state-approved norm-referenced assessment. Results go to the SFO for renewal as that SFO currently instructs. This is different from district Home Education, where a portfolio review is one of several options.

Curriculum vs. purchasing rules

You still choose materials. If you pay with scholarship funds, items must fit the SFO’s current Purchasing Guide and authorized categories under s. 1002.395, F.S. (for example instructional materials, curriculum, tutoring services, assessment fees). Purchases that do not meet current rules cannot be reimbursed or bought through the portal marketplace. Confirm current categories in the live portal.

Autonomy vs. financial assistance

• Families who want independence from SFO portals, purchasing lists, and required standardized testing often look at District Home Education.
• Families who want an Education Savings Account for curriculum, materials, and educational services such as tutoring — and who can work with annual testing and SFO documents — often look at PEP.

This hub does not tell you which path you “qualify” for or which is “better.”

Portfolio review vs. required testing

• District Home Education: An annual evaluation can be a portfolio conversation with a Florida-certified teacher. Standardized testing is an option, not the only option.
• PEP: Annual norm-referenced testing from a state-approved list is required. Read the current SFO family handbook before you apply if that matters for your learner.

You cannot be in both

Florida law does not allow a student to be registered in District Home Education and PEP at the same time.

• Home Education → PEP: You cannot start using PEP funds while the child stays on the district Home Education roster. After a funded award, file a written Notice of Termination with the county superintendent and tell the district the student is in PEP. AAA currently requires proof of district disenrollment before an SLP is reviewed. Step Up requires district termination in its handbook policies. Confirm the exact sequence with your SFO. Details: Moving between Home Education and PEP.
• PEP → Home Education: File a new written Notice of Intent with the district within 30 days of establishing the home education program.

“Home education instructional program” is not district Home Education

SFO purchasing guides may list home education instructional program as a spend category for books and curriculum. That phrase is a purchasing category. It does not mean the student is in District Home Education under s. 1002.41, F.S. PEP students remain scholarship students under s. 1002.395, F.S., even when they buy materials labeled that way.