Learn how Florida families can use Step Up For Students scholarship funds for educational support services, including tutoring, curriculum, assessments, and other eligible resources. Find out how to choose support based on your child's needs, verify eligible expenses, and keep scholarship documentation organized.
If you have a Step Up For Students scholarship, you probably already know that it can help pay for your child's education. But one of the questions I frequently hear from families is, "What can I actually use these funds for?"
Depending on the scholarship your child receives, the answer may include much more than private school tuition. Scholarship funds may be used for eligible educational services, tutoring, curriculum, instructional materials, assessments, specialized services, and other supports that help meet your child's individual educational needs (Step Up For Students, 2026a, 2026b).
The tricky part is that not every scholarship works the same way, and not every educational expense is automatically covered. So, before you start spending, let's break down how Step Up For Students scholarship funds can be used to support your child's education and how to make sure you're using them appropriately.
Important: Step Up For Students scholarship rules, eligible expenses, provider requirements, and purchasing guidelines can change. The information in this article is based on the 2026–27 school year. Always check the current purchasing guide for your child's specific scholarship before purchasing a product or service.
What Is an Education Savings Account?
Some Step Up For Students scholarships provide families with an Education Savings Account, or ESA. An ESA allows public funds to be deposited into a government-authorized account and used for allowable educational expenses. For example, the Personalized Education Program (PEP) allows funds to be used for approved expenses such as eligible home education instructional programs, online learning programs, private tutoring, postsecondary expenses, and other approved services and materials (Step Up For Students, 2026a).
The Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities (FES-UA) also operates through an ESA and allows families to use funds for approved educational expenses, including private school tuition and fees, online learning programs, private tutoring, higher education expenses, and other approved services and materials (Step Up For Students, 2026b).
This flexibility gives families more opportunities to customize their child's education based on what that individual student actually needs. Two children can be the same age and in the same grade and still have completely different educational needs. One may need additional reading instruction. Another may be ready for more challenging math. Another may need specialized support or a curriculum that allows them to learn at a different pace.
Know Which Scholarship Your Child Has
Before purchasing anything, make sure you know which scholarship your child receives. This sounds obvious, but it matters because different Step Up For Students scholarships have different rules regarding eligible expenses, services, providers, documentation, and purchasing procedures. Step Up publishes separate purchasing guidance for its scholarship programs and updates those guidelines as requirements change (Step Up For Students, 2026c).
For example, families may be using programs such as:
Personalized Education Program (PEP)
Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities (FES-UA)
Florida Tax Credit Scholarship (FTC)
Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options (FES-EO)
An expense that is eligible under one program is not automatically eligible under another. This is why one of my biggest recommendations to families is to know your scholarship before you spend your scholarship. Before paying for a service or purchasing a product, check the current purchasing guide for your specific program. If you're still unsure whether something qualifies, contact Step Up For Students before making the purchase.
What Educational Support Services Can Scholarship Funds Cover?
This is where families often don't realize how many options may be available to them. Depending on your child's scholarship and the current purchasing guidelines, eligible educational expenses may include services and resources such as private tutoring, standardized testing, Choice Navigator services, eligible educational programs, instructional materials, and certain specialized services (Step Up For Students, 2026c).
Academic Tutoring
Current Step Up purchasing guidance includes qualifying private tutoring as an eligible expense for certain scholarship programs (Step Up For Students, 2026c). Tutoring doesn't have to be reserved for a child who is failing or struggling in a specific subject. A student might benefit from tutoring because they need to close an academic gap, build fluency, practice a difficult skill, receive instruction at a different pace, or simply have concepts presented in a way that works better for them. The important thing to remember is that scholarship programs may have specific requirements regarding who can provide eligible tutoring services. Before beginning services, make sure both the service and provider meet the requirements for your child's scholarship. A person being a great tutor does not necessarily mean that their services automatically qualify as an eligible scholarship expense. Step Up For Students establishes provider qualification and documentation requirements for private tutoring services. Before starting tutoring, verify:
Your child's scholarship allows the service
The tutor meets current provider qualifications
Any required provider documentation has been completed
You understand how the service will be paid
You know what documentation you need to keep
Checking first can save you a lot of frustration later.
Testing and Assessment
Certain scholarship programs allow funds to be used for eligible standardized testing and related assessment expenses (Step Up For Students, 2026c). Assessment can be useful for much more than getting a score. Good assessment information can help answer questions such as:
What skills has my child mastered?
Where are the gaps?
Is my child working at grade level?
Why does one subject seem so much harder than another?
What should we work on next?
Is the curriculum we're using an appropriate fit?
For homeschooling families, assessment may also be part of meeting annual educational requirements, depending on the family's homeschool option and circumstances. Always verify whether the specific assessment or evaluation you are considering is an eligible scholarship expense before scheduling it.
Educational Consultations and Choice Navigator Services
Sometimes parents don't need another workbook or program—they need someone to help them figure out what to do next. Step Up recognizes Choice Navigator services as an eligible service for certain scholarship programs. Choice Navigators must meet specific credentialing requirements and can consult with families about educational options that address a student's academic needs, curriculum selection, and career or postsecondary opportunities (Step Up For Students, 2026c). This type of support can be especially useful when a family has plenty of educational options but isn't sure which ones actually make sense for their child. Always verify that the professional providing the service meets the current requirements for your scholarship before using scholarship funds.
Curriculum and Instructional Materials
Eligible scholarship programs may also allow families to purchase approved curriculum, educational programs, and instructional materials (Step Up For Students, 2026a, 2026b). For homeschooling families in particular, this can provide an incredible amount of flexibility. But more choices don't always make choosing easier. Before buying another curriculum because someone recommended it online, consider: What does my child actually need? Think about your child's academic level, learning style, strengths, areas of difficulty, attention, independence, pace, and your family's overall homeschool approach. The "best" curriculum is not necessarily the most popular curriculum. It is the one that works for your child and is realistic for your family to use consistently.
Specialized Services
Families using the FES-UA scholarship may have access to additional categories of specialized services and supports for eligible students. The current Step Up purchasing guidance includes certain specialized services provided by approved providers, and FES-UA is specifically designed to give families of students with qualifying unique abilities additional options for customizing their education (Step Up For Students, 2026b, 2026c). Because FES-UA has purchasing options and requirements that differ in important ways from other scholarship programs, use the current FES-UA Purchasing Guide rather than assuming information you hear from another scholarship family applies to your child.
Start With Your Child's Needs—Not the Account Balance
When families receive educational funding, it can be tempting to immediately start asking, "What can I buy?" I encourage families to start with a different question, "What does my child need?" That one change can completely shift how you use educational funding.
If your child is struggling with math facts, buying five new math programs probably isn't the answer. They may need targeted instruction and repeated practice at their current skill level.
If your child can decode words but struggles to read smoothly, they may need targeted fluency practice rather than an entirely new reading curriculum.
If your homeschool day is constantly falling apart because no one knows what to do or when to do it, you may need help creating routines and educational systems before buying more materials.
If you're overwhelmed by curriculum choices, an educational consultation may be more useful than another box of curriculum sitting on the shelf.
Scholarship funds aren't simply money to spend. They are an opportunity to intentionally build educational support around your child.
Direct Purchasing vs. Reimbursement
Depending on the scholarship and expense, families may be able to use scholarship funds through approved purchasing methods or request reimbursement for eligible expenses they have paid for themselves. Step Up's purchasing guides identify allowable payment methods for different categories of expenses (Step Up For Students, 2026c). This is an area where I strongly recommend checking the current guidelines before making a purchase. Don't assume that something will be reimbursed simply because it's educational, another family was reimbursed for it, it was approved last year, or because you have used scholarship funds for soemthing similar before. Purchasing guides are updated, and requirements can change. Step Up For Students requires its purchasing guidelines to be updated at least annually and may make additional revisions as requirements change (Step Up For Students, 2026c). When in doubt, check first.
Keep Your Documentation Organized
Please don't wait until you need to submit a reimbursement request to figure out where you put the receipt! Create a simple system at the beginning of the school year for scholarship-related documents. You might keep a digital folder with sections for:
Receipts
Invoices
Proof of payment
Provider information and credentials
Service dates
Assessments
Preauthorization documents, when applicable
Reimbursement submissions
Approval or denial notices
Copies of your current purchasing guide
Use file names that actually tell you what the document is. Instead of IMG_4837.jpg, name your files like Math_Tutoring_Invoice_August_2026.pdf. It takes an extra few seconds when you save it and can save you a lot of time later. Keep in mind that the exact documentation required depends on the type of expense. Check the purchasing guide before assuming a receipt alone will be enough.
How Brick City Educational Services Can Help
Having more educational options is wonderful but figuring out which options your child actually needs can feel overwhelming. At Brick City Educational Services, my goal is not to give every student the same program or approach. I work with families to look at the whole child—their academic skills, strengths, areas of difficulty, learning needs, and educational environment—and determine what support makes sense for them.
Services may include individualized academic tutoring and support, homeschool consultations, curriculum guidance, educational planning, academic screening and assessment, executive functioning support, and other individualized educational services.
Depending on your child's scholarship, the specific service, provider eligibility, and current Step Up For Students requirements, eligible services may be payable using scholarship funds.
The Bottom Line
Step Up For Students scholarships can give families more options for supporting their child's education, but having more options doesn't mean you need to use all of them. You don't need the most curriculum or the most services. You don't need to spend money just because it's available. You need the right support for your child.
Start with the need.
Find the support that addresses it.
Verify that it meets your scholarship's requirements.
Keep good records.
Then use the flexibility you've been given to build an education that helps your child grow.
References
Step Up For Students. (2026a). 2026–27 Personalized Education Program purchasing guide. https://www.stepupforstudents.org/handbook-web/pep-purchasing-guide/
Step Up For Students. (2026b). 2026–27 Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities family handbook. https://www.stepupforstudents.org/handbook-web/fes-ua-family-handbook/
Step Up For Students. (2026c). Purchasing guides. https://www.stepupforstudents.org/purchasing-guides/
Step Up For Students. (2026d). 2026–27 Personalized Education Program family handbook. https://www.stepupforstudents.org/handbook-web/pep-family-handbook/
Additional Resources
Step Up For Students Purchasing Guides https://www.stepupforstudents.org/purchasing-guides/
Step Up For Students Document Library https://www.stepupforstudents.org/document-library/
PEP Resources https://www.stepupforstudents.org/resources/pep/
FES-UA Resources https://www.stepupforstudents.org/resources/ua/