Florida PEP Scholarship Amount Calculator 2026-27

By The School Choice Index Editorial Team · Last verified: August 11, 2026 · Data version 1.0

The School Choice Index is an independent comparison and research resource for U.S. school choice programs.

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Use the Florida PEP Scholarship Amount Calculator 2026-27 to find the exact amount on Florida's published chart for your child. Pick your county. Pick your grade. That's it.

The short answer: Florida's published 2026-27 PEP amounts run from $7,463 to $12,217 per student. Your number depends on just two things — the county listed on your scholarship application and your child's grade band. Not your income. Not your ZIP code. Not what you spend.

There are 201 different amounts on the official chart. Miami-Dade's published amount is $8,745 for a second grader and $7,942 for a tenth grader. Volusia has the lowest amount in the state. Monroe has the highest, by a lot.

If your child is funded, the annual amount is split into four equal quarters. So an $8,745 award is $2,186.25 per quarter.

One more thing before you scroll. Step Up For Students says its EMA portal may still show 2025-26 amounts while its systems update. Compare your account against the 2026-27 chart before you build a budget.

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Use the Florida PEP Scholarship Amount Calculator 2026-27

[CALCULATOR — TOP OF PAGE, ABOVE THE FOLD] Which Florida county is listed on the scholarship application? [Dropdown — all 67 counties. Search accepts "Miami-Dade," "Miami Dade," and "Dade."] What grade is your child entering for 2026-27? [Dropdown — K through 12] Which organization manages the account? [Step Up For Students · AAA Scholarship Foundation · Transfer from Step Up to AAA in progress · Not sure] [ Calculate my 2026-27 PEP amount ] Before you pick anything, it shows: Florida's 201 published PEP amounts run from $7,463 to $12,217. Choose a county and grade for your exact published figure. Result card returns: - Published 2026-27 annual amount - Calculated amount per quarter (annual ÷ 4) - County and grade band used - How that compares to our calculated statewide median for that grade band - The funding dates published by the organization you selected - Last verified date and data version - Published chart amount — not a funding confirmation [ Check my official PEP status ] · [ Print this amount and quarter plan ] We don't ask for your child's name, birth date, application number, diagnosis, address, or login. County and grade only. No email required to see your result.

2026-27 status, as of August 11, 2026: Regular PEP applications closed on April 30, 2026. Step Up For Students says PEP is at capacity for new students, while eligible renewing students keep first priority. Accepting a scholarship shows you intend to use it — it is not a promise of funding. Step Up also says EMA may still show 2025-26 amounts while its systems update.

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📋 What we actually verified

We checked all 201 amounts against Florida's official 2026-27 PEP chart — every county, every grade band. Then we checked the official Unique Abilities chart so a family can see the lowest FES-UA grade-band amount beside PEP. We divided each PEP award by four to get the quarterly figure.

Then we read the 2026-27 PEP Family Handbook, the official 2026-27 Scholarship Schedule, the Scholarship Program Switch Guide, Step Up's current PEP and application pages, both scholarship organizations' PEP materials, both current purchasing guides, section 1002.395 of the Florida Statutes, and Chapter 2026-33, Laws of Florida.

We label official numbers as official. Anything we worked out ourselves — medians, rankings, quarterly math, county comparisons, 13-year totals, and PEP-to-FES-UA gaps — we label as our own calculation.

We did not get these figures from another website.

Two things we want to be upfront about. We can't tell you whether your child is funded — only your scholarship organization can. And Step Up and AAA do not use the same portal, first-quarter date, application cutoff for every scholarship, or purchasing process. Where the organizations differ, this page says which rule belongs to which one.

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What is my Florida PEP scholarship amount for 2026-27?

Your PEP amount is the number where your county of residence meets your child's grade band on Florida's official 2026-27 chart. The published amounts range from $7,463 to $12,217 per student per year. There are three grade bands — kindergarten through grade 3, grades 4 through 8, and grades 9 through 12 — and 67 counties, which makes 201 possible amounts.

First, a quick translation, because the alphabet soup trips up almost everybody.

PEP stands for Personalized Education Program. It's Florida's scholarship for kids who are not enrolled full time in a public school or a traditional full-time private school — so mostly families building parent-directed education. A PEP plan can still include approved part-time classes, tutoring, online courses, contracted public-school services, or an FLDOE-approved PEP hybrid option. The money goes into an ESA (education savings account), which is a state-authorized account you spend on approved learning costs instead of getting cash.

Here's the part most articles get wrong: PEP is not a Family Empowerment Scholarship. PEP runs through the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program, which is why you'll see your application labeled FTC-PEP. The two Family Empowerment paths are separate programs — FES-EO for full-time private school and FES-UA for students with unique abilities. Same state, different laws, different rules. If a guide tells you PEP is "one of the FES programs," that's a sign it hasn't read the handbook.

All 67 counties: 2026-27 Florida PEP amounts

This is the whole chart. Find your county. Read across to your child's grade band. Divide by four for the calculated quarterly amount.

Source: Step Up For Students, 2026-27 Scholarship Amounts — Private School Scholarships and PEP by District. Verified August 11, 2026. The chart says "district" means the student's county of residence as listed in the 2026-27 scholarship application. It lists Miami-Dade as "Dade."

Download the full dataset as CSV · Download JSON

Where your county lands

Here's the shape of the whole chart. These are our calculations from the 201 official figures — Florida doesn't publish statewide averages like this.

A few things jump out once you see it all together:

• Only 5 counties out of 67 have a K-3 amount of $10,000 or more: Collier, Franklin, Jefferson, Monroe, and Walton.
• 35 counties — more than half the state — have a high-school amount under $8,000.
• Across Miami-Dade, Broward, Hillsborough, Orange, Palm Beach, Duval, Pinellas, and Polk, the K-3 average is $8,545.75. Across all 67 county rows it is $8,872.55 — a $326.80 gap.

So when a blog says "PEP is about $8,000," it isn't lying exactly. It's just useless. The real number for your family is somewhere in a $4,754 spread, and you can't budget a school year off a shrug.

Objection resolved: "I don't know my exact number." Now you do. Next step is confirming it on your scholarship organization's side. [ Check my official PEP status ] — opens the login page for the organization selected in the calculator so you can compare your account against the chart figure above.

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How does Florida decide the PEP amount?

Florida's published PEP chart uses exactly two lookup values: the county of residence listed on the scholarship application, and one of three grade bands. The Florida Legislature sets the dollar amounts every year in the state budget, and section 1002.395 of the Florida Statutes ties the amount to the student's grade level and county. Income, spending, and the mix of approved learning options do not change the size of the published award.

That's the whole lookup. Two inputs. No income test for the dollar amount. No adjustment for what you actually spend.

County or ZIP code?

County. Specifically, the county listed on your 2026-27 application. Your ZIP code only matters as a way to figure out which county you're in — it isn't a separate variable anywhere on the chart.

This trips people up when they've moved recently or when the application was filled out at an old address. If the county on your application is wrong, that's a Step Up or AAA conversation, and it's worth having early.

Which grade band applies?

• Kindergarten, 1, 2, 3 → K–3
• Grades 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 → 4–8
• Grades 9, 10, 11, 12 → 9–12

Enter your child's actual grade in the calculator and it maps the band for you.

Once the amount is set, it's set

This is the rule people miss, and it matters. The PEP Family Handbook says it plainly: after the Florida Department of Education assigns the scholarship amount, later changes to grade level or county of residence will not change the funding amount for that school year.

Read that twice if you're thinking about moving. A family that moves from Volusia ($8,238 for K-3) to Monroe ($12,217) in October does not get Monroe's number this year. They keep Volusia's. Same in reverse — moving to a lower-amount county doesn't cut the award mid-year either.

So if your county or grade is wrong on the application, fix it before the amount gets assigned, not after.

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Why is my child's amount lower this year than last year?

The first reason to check is a grade-band change. Florida's PEP awards get smaller as students get older, in every one of the 67 counties. Across the whole chart, K-3 amounts average $594.90 more than grades 4-8, and grades 4-8 average $195.03 more than grades 9-12 — a total average drop of $789.93 from K-3 to high school.

So a child who just finished third grade and is entering fourth saw the published amount fall by $584 to $609, depending on the county. Nothing went wrong. That's how the chart is built.

Here's what that looks like in one county. Orange County:

Same house. Same county. Same school year. $781 apart between the second grader and the tenth grader. Those differences are our math on the official Orange County row.

Now, the honest part.

### The thing we'd want to know if it were our kid PEP does not size your award to your child's needs, and it does not size it to what you're paying. It sizes it to a county and a grade band. And it pays less as your child gets older — even though an older student's plan may include costly lab materials, dual enrollment, career courses, or test prep. If your child has a qualifying diagnosis or an assigned matrix-of-services level, PEP may be the wrong amount chart to plan from. Florida's Unique Abilities Scholarship (FES-UA) is the program built around documented needs, and its lowest published grade-band amount is higher than PEP in every county. We show the exact gap further down. But here's what that flat design buys the rest of us. Because the amount isn't tied to one school's price list or one child's evaluation, it can follow your child into an approved mix — curriculum, a part-time class, tutoring, dual enrollment, testing, approved online learning, or contracted public-school services. Your Student Learning Plan guides the year, but every purchase still has to meet your scholarship organization's rules. What you don't spend can roll over to the next school year, subject to the $24,000 account limit and continued eligibility. Flat means simple. Simple means you can build the year around your child instead of one provider.

Objection resolved: "The amount doesn't match what my child actually needs." If your child has a diagnosis, an IEP, or an assigned matrix-of-services level, compare PEP with FES-UA before you build the budget. The difference is real money. See the official 2026-27 Unique Abilities award chart

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Why do my two children have different PEP amounts?

The usual explanation is grade bands, not an error. Two children living in the same house with the same county on file will get different published amounts if one is in K-3 and the other is in grades 4-8 or 9-12. In Orange County, that gap is $589 between a second grader and a sixth grader, and $781 between a second grader and a tenth grader.

Add them up and it's a real household number. Three kids in Miami-Dade — one in second grade, one in sixth, one in tenth — comes to $24,827 for the year, or $6,206.75 a quarter.

If both children are in the same county and the same grade band and the numbers still don't match, check these in order:

1. Are both accounts on the 2026-27 school year? One may still be showing last year.
2. Is the county the same on both applications? Check the actual application record.
3. Are both kids with the same scholarship organization? Same state chart, but different portals and timing.
4. Are you comparing an annual award to an available balance? Those are different numbers. A balance can include rollover from last year, or reflect money already spent or reserved.
5. Has an adjustment been posted to one account?

Don't assume an individual adjustment that isn't documented in the account. Call and ask.

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Why does a family one county over get more than we do?

Because Florida sets PEP amounts by county, two children in the same grade can have very different published awards across a single county line. The largest gap on the 2026-27 chart between counties that touch is Monroe County versus Miami-Dade — $3,472 more per year for a K-3 student. Several other neighboring pairs differ by more than $1,000.

These are our calculations from the official chart, comparing counties that touch each other:

We're not suggesting anyone move for a scholarship. We're telling you this because it explains the question families keep asking: "My friend in the next county gets way more than I do — did I do something wrong?" No. You live in a different county. That's the entire reason.

What it adds up to over 13 years

Here's a number we haven't seen anywhere else. If a child uses PEP from kindergarten through twelfth grade at today's rates — four years in K-3, five in grades 4-8, four in grades 9-12 — the county alone decides a huge total.

That's a $51,563 spread for the same child in the same state. Our calculation, and treat it as planning math only — the Legislature resets these amounts every year, so no one can promise 13 years of anything.

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How much of my PEP award lands each quarter?

Florida PEP awards are divided into four equal quarterly amounts, not one lump sum. Both Step Up For Students and AAA Scholarship Foundation publish a four-quarter structure for 2026-27, so the calculated quarterly figure is the annual published amount divided by four. An $8,745 award works out to $2,186.25 per quarter.

The formula:

Published annual amount ÷ 4 = calculated quarterly amount

Use four quarters when you plan. A ten-month budget does not match either scholarship organization's current PEP funding schedule.

When the money actually shows up

Three different dates can hide inside that table, and mixing them up is how families end up short:

1. The date the organization receives or schedules the quarter's funds.
2. The date your child's account shows the money.
3. The date you can actually complete a purchase or get reimbursed, which also depends on the organization's process and your paperwork.

One more small Step Up detail explains why an EMA balance may not equal annual award ÷ 4. Step Up's handbook says interest earned for a student is added to that student's account on October 31, January 31, April 30, and July 31.

Objection resolved: "I know my annual number but I still can't plan the year." Your award isn't one payment. Plan it like four. [ Build my four-quarter PEP budget ] — loads the planner below with your calculated quarterly amount already filled in.

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Why doesn't my EMA account match this number?

A mismatch between your account and the published chart doesn't automatically mean either one is wrong. Step Up For Students currently states that its EMA portal may continue to display 2025-26 scholarship amounts while its systems are updated. Other common causes are the wrong school year, the wrong county on the application, a grade-band change, or comparing an annual award to an available account balance.

Step Up says, on its own website, that the number in EMA may be last year's. So compare the portal against the official 2026-27 row before you build a spending plan.

Work through it in this order

1. Check the school year. Is your account showing 2026-27 or 2025-26? Compare it to the table above.

2. Check the county on the application. Not where you live today — what the application says. And remember the official chart lists Miami-Dade as "Dade."

3. Check the grade band. A child moving into grade 4 or grade 9 crosses a band and the amount drops. That's expected.

4. Make sure you're comparing the same kind of number. The chart shows an annual published amount. Your portal may be showing an available balance, which can include last year's rollover or subtract what you've already spent or reserved.

5. Check whether "accepted" is being confused with "funded." More on that next — it's the biggest source of panic in this program.

Is my Step Up application being transferred to AAA?

A 2026-27 transfer can create another temporary mismatch. Step Up surveyed certain PEP students in Pending Review status about a possible transfer to AAA. AAA says it can accept up to 6,500 selected PEP student transfers and expects the information move to take three to four weeks after the August 7 deadline.

That process moves application information for selected students. It does not mean an already funded PEP balance moves from Step Up to AAA. Both organizations say funded FTC-PEP money is not transferable between scholarship funding organizations.

If the calculator's organization field says "transfer in progress," show both organizations' status links and do not guess which first-quarter date applies until the family receives the transfer notice.

Objection resolved: "My account and the chart don't agree." Now you know the main reasons that happens, and which one to check first. [ Compare my account to the official 2026-27 chart ] — puts your county's official row and this checklist side by side.

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I accepted the scholarship. Does that mean I'm funded?

No. Accepting a PEP scholarship tells your scholarship organization that you intend to use it — Step Up For Students states directly that accepting does not guarantee funding. Funding depends on priority, program capacity, available funds, and whether every requirement was completed on time. As of August 11, 2026, Step Up describes PEP as at capacity for new students, while renewal students keep first priority.

This is where most of the anxiety in this program lives. Here's the honest ladder, step by step:

1. Application submitted
2. Found eligible
3. Scholarship accepted by you ← most families think they're done here
4. Scholarship choice confirmed
5. All organization-specific requirements completed
6. Quarter funded
7. Funds usable through the organization's purchase or reimbursement process

Steps 3 and 6 are not the same step. Step Up's own status guide says "Scholarship Choice Confirmed" means the student is eligible but has not yet been funded. "Funded" is the status that means the money is in EMA and may be used.

How Florida decides who gets funded

The order is set by law, and it's not first-come-first-served for everyone:

1. Renewal students first. A renewal student is one who was funded for Quarter 4 of the prior year for the same scholarship and didn't have it revoked.
2. Then new students, by household income:

- At or below 185% of the federal poverty level, plus students in foster or out-of-home care - Above 185% and up to 400% - Above 400%, or families who chose not to submit income information — first come, first served, subject to available funding

For a household of four, Step Up's current chart puts 185% at $61,050 and 400% at $132,000.

Notice what income does and doesn't do here. It affects priority for funding. It does not change how much appears on the county-and-grade chart. Two families in the same county and grade band have the same published amount — one may be funded while another waits.

The statewide PEP limit for 2026-27 is 140,000 students. That number comes from the statute's formula: 20,000 in 2023-24, plus 40,000 in each later school year, through 2026-27. The cap provision is scheduled to repeal July 1, 2027.

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What can stop a quarter from being paid?

A published award amount doesn't remove the program's ongoing conditions. For Step Up families, a quarter can be delayed or stopped by a missed EMA attestation, an incomplete Student Learning Plan, a missing prior-year test result for a renewal, or an account balance over the published checkpoint limit. AAA uses its own SMP and SLP process, so AAA families should follow AAA's notices rather than copying every EMA date below.

Most of these are paperwork. Which is good news — paperwork you can control.

The quarterly attestation is new this year. Don't miss it.

Starting in 2026-27, Step Up families have to confirm in EMA, every quarter, that the child is not enrolled full time in public school. The statewide rule requires scholarship organizations to verify this status; the table below is Step Up's EMA schedule.

If you have both a renewal student and a new student, Step Up says you need to complete the Quarter 1 attestation for both by August 15.

AAA families should use the SMP request and date AAA sends. Do not assume the EMA button or Step Up workflow applies to an AAA account.

The Student Learning Plan cliff

A Student Learning Plan (SLP) is the short plan you write each year describing how you'll educate your child.

For Step Up families, the 2026-27 SLP had to be submitted in EMA by May 31, 2026. Step Up's handbook says an initial SLP submitted after that date makes the student ineligible for funding for the whole school year.

Not prorated. Not reduced. Gone.

Step Up renewal students also had to submit prior-year test results by May 31, 2026.

AAA's posted process is different: AAA reports the student's funding status, then requires a completed SLP before it funds the PEP account. AAA families should follow the deadline and status shown in SMP.

The $24,000 rule is actually two rules

People collapse these into one, and they're different:

Rule one — the statewide deposit cap. Florida law bars a deposit that would push a PEP account above $24,000.

Rule two — Step Up's balance checkpoints. To receive the next Step Up quarter, the available PEP balance has to be at or under $24,000 by August 15 or September 15, then November 15, February 15, and April 15. Step Up's schedule says missing the checkpoint may result in that quarter's funds being returned to the funding source.

To be clear about what this is not: money already in your account doesn't vanish just because the balance is high. But a new deposit can stop.

For planning only, here's how long a balance would take to reach $24,000 if it started at $0, the same annual award kept repeating, every quarter was funded, and the family spent nothing:

Our math. Real balances can include partial years, interest, adjustments, and spending, so use the live account for the real checkpoint.

Unspent money rolls over — until it doesn't

Leftover PEP funds can carry into the next school year as long as the child stays eligible and the account remains open. But if an account has no spending activity for two consecutive fiscal years — July 1 through June 30 — the account closes.

A new Florida law took effect July 1, 2026. When an account closes under this rule, the remaining funds revert to the scholarship funding organization, must be tracked separately, and must be used for scholarships. They no longer revert to the state.

So "save it all for high school" is not a safe plan. Do not let two full fiscal years pass with no spending activity.

Objection resolved: "I'm afraid I'll lose money over a form." The dates that can stop a payment are knowable in advance. The exact workflow depends on your organization. [ Print the 2026-27 PEP funding checklist ] — one page, every Step Up date, with a separate AAA reminder column so the two systems do not get mixed together.

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Would the Unique Abilities Scholarship pay more for my child?

Yes, at the published Matrix 251-253 level, in every county. Florida's Unique Abilities Scholarship (FES-UA) is a separate program for students with a qualifying diagnosis or an assigned matrix-of-services level, and its 2026-27 chart pays more than PEP for the same grade band and county. In 50 of Florida's 67 counties the gap is exactly $2,164 per year, and in the other 17 counties it ranges from $2,172 to $2,748.

We ran this county by county. That $2,164 showing up 50 times isn't published as a statewide finding — it's what falls out when you line the two charts up next to each other.

And that's just the grade-band level for Matrix 251-253. The official 2026-27 FES-UA chart lists Matrix Level 4 amounts from $21,379 to $25,701 and Matrix Level 5 amounts from $34,429 to $39,091. Which figure applies depends on the student's qualifying path and assigned matrix, so use the official chart and the scholarship organization's decision rather than guessing.

FES-UA purchasing rules also allow some items PEP rules do not. The big one: both current PEP purchasing guides bar computers, tablets, and other digital devices, while FES-UA rules can allow technology purchases subject to their own limits.

Can we switch this year?

Yes, but the full-year window has passed. The official Step Up switch guide separates the full-year and half-year deadlines:

• Renewal students could request a switch by June 15, 2026 for possible funding across all four quarters.
• New students could request a switch by July 15, 2026 for possible funding across all four quarters.
• All students get a fall window from October 2 through October 30, 2026, but that switch can cover Quarters 3 and 4 only — up to 50% of the new program's annual amount.

A student may switch programs only once per school year. Step Up says switch requests are final. It also warns that declining or switching from PEP means giving up the current PEP application or scholarship, and a return to PEP later is not guaranteed.

Do not decline anything first and hope the rest works out. Read the current switch guide, call Step Up at (877) 735-7837, and get the exact steps for your student's current status.

If this section describes your child, this page may not be your main planning tool. The PEP calculator gives you a real published number, but you'd be planning around the smaller of two awards you may qualify for. Start with the Unique Abilities side instead.

Open the official FES-UA amount chart · Read Florida's scholarship guide

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PEP applications are closed for 2026-27. What's still open?

Regular new and renewal PEP applications for 2026-27 closed April 30, 2026. Step Up For Students lists PEP as at capacity for new students. But the answer for the other scholarships now depends on which scholarship funding organization you use.

Read each date with the organization name. "The private school scholarship is open" is true at Step Up and false at AAA on the same day.

The trade-off is real:

• FES-EO is not a homeschool substitute. It requires full-time enrollment at a participating private school.
• FES-UA requires a qualifying path. If your child qualifies, the published amount can be higher than PEP anyway.

Capacity can change before a posted closing date. Confirm the live application page before you count on a seat or award.

Who can still apply outside the PEP window?

Step Up's current PEP handbook lists two deadline-exception groups:

• Dependents of active-duty U.S. Armed Forces members
• Students in foster care or out-of-home care

The current PEP-specific handbook does not list bullying or harassment as a PEP deadline exception.

For a 2026-27 Step Up PEP exception application after the regular deadline, the handbook currently lists:

• Apply by April 15, 2027
• Submit required documents by April 22, 2027
• Accept the scholarship choice and submit the SLP and prior-year test, if required, by May 14, 2027

Step Up's one-page scholarship schedule says all additional requirements are due May 15, while the newer handbook says May 14. Use May 14 as the working deadline and confirm the live date in EMA before waiting until the last day.

An exception lets you apply. It does not guarantee eligibility, capacity, or funding. Call Step Up at (877) 735-7837 to have an exception application opened.

If you're on the "At Capacity" list

Two things worth knowing before you decide anything:

One: accepting the scholarship is how an eligible new Step Up student gets onto the At Capacity list. If you never accepted, you're not in line.

Two, and this one stings: if you don't receive 2026-27 PEP funding or you decline the scholarship, Step Up says you'll be treated as a new applicant for 2027-28 — not a renewal. Renewal students get first priority by law. That's a real cost to walking away, and it's worth weighing before you give up a place in line.

Objection resolved: "PEP is closed for us. Now what?" There are still open doors this school year, but they may require a different education plan or a different scholarship organization. [ Find an online learning option that fits your state, grade, funding, and start date ] — our free 2-minute finder. See the results first, then decide whether any school can contact you. Finder disclosure: Schools may pay The School Choice Index a flat monthly fee for parent-selected introductions. Payment never affects coverage, content, verification, or result order. The finder shows results before asking which schools, if any, may contact you.

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How should I plan a PEP award across four quarters?

Plan from the quarterly amount, not the annual headline. With Florida's published PEP range of $7,463 to $12,217, each calculated quarter is about $1,865.75 to $3,054.25, and money that hasn't reached the account yet can't pay a bill that's due now. Front-load required costs into the quarter where the funds actually exist.

[ FOUR-QUARTER BUDGET PLANNER — ON-PAGE TOOL ] Pre-fills your quarterly amount from the calculator. Enter planned costs by category, see what's left in each quarter, get a warning if a quarter goes over, then print it. | Expense | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Year total | |---|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:| | Core curriculum | | | | | | | Classes or part-time program | | | | | | | Tutoring | | | | | | | Testing and proctoring | | | | | | | Materials and supplies | | | | | | | Reserve | | | | | | No login. No email. Nothing saved unless you ask.

A rough shape that works for a lot of families — this is our suggestion, not a state rule:

• Quarter 1: core curriculum and anything you need on day one.
• Quarter 2: the gaps you didn't see until the year started. There are always gaps.
• Quarter 3: second-semester classes and materials.
• Quarter 4: the required annual test, plus year-end needs.
• Keep a reserve. Not everything gets approved, and Step Up says a reimbursement review may take up to 60 days after all needed documents arrive.

One warning specifically for AAA families. AAA describes its PEP program as reimbursement-based — you pay first, then submit through SMP. That means you need enough cash or credit on hand to front an approved expense and wait. If your Q1 plan assumes the scholarship pays the vendor directly, check AAA's process before you commit to a tuition or tutoring schedule.

For more help, use the ESA spending planner, compare homeschool curriculum that may fit ESA rules, or read our ESA spending-by-category research.

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What PEP money can and can't pay for

PEP funds cover approved educational expenses through an education savings account rather than arriving as cash. Eligible categories can include curriculum and instructional materials, part-time private-school classes, approved home education instructional programs, private tutoring, dual enrollment, approved online or virtual learning, standardized testing fees, and services contracted from a public school.

The short version of the traps:

• No computers, tablets, printers, or monitors. Both current PEP purchasing guides list digital devices and computer peripherals as ineligible.
• Online rules depend on the organization and enrollment type. Step Up says PEP funds may not pay for full-time online instruction. AAA's current guide covers FLDOE-approved online or virtual providers and private-pay FLVS, while ordinary PEP programs may not be full-time equivalents. Publicly funded online enrollment can end PEP eligibility.
• No regular full-time private-school enrollment. PEP can pay for approved part-time classes and qualifying PEP hybrid options. A traditional full-time private-school plan belongs under the Private School Scholarship, not PEP.
• No cash or private-sale purchases. AAA states this directly, and undocumented private sales are not a safe reimbursement plan.
• Do not assume a provider is approved because it calls itself ESA-friendly. Check the current SFO guide and the provider's approved status before paying.

There's a rule in your favor too, and it's easy to miss: if you buy a product that's identical to one on the scholarship organization's online platform and you pay less, Florida law requires the organization to reimburse the lower-priced purchase if it is otherwise eligible.

For the full list, read the current Step Up PEP Purchasing Guide or AAA Purchasing Handbook for the organization that holds the account. You can also compare online ESA-eligible learning options, but the scholarship organization still makes the purchase decision.

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What we checked, what we calculated, and what we can't tell you

Every dollar figure on this page comes from Florida's official 2026-27 scholarship charts, verified August 11, 2026. Statewide medians, percentiles, quarterly amounts, county comparisons, multi-year totals, and the FES-UA gaps are calculations by The School Choice Index, an independent comparison and research resource for U.S. school choice programs. This page cannot access, confirm, or predict any individual student's scholarship status or account balance.

Straight from official sources:

• All 201 county-and-grade PEP amounts and the official FES-UA amounts
• "District" meaning county of residence as listed on the application
• The three PEP grade bands
• Amounts set annually by the Florida Legislature
• Four equal quarterly PEP amounts and the organizations' published dates
• Up to two weeks for Step Up to credit accounts after it receives funds
• The April 30, 2026 regular PEP deadline
• Step Up's November 15 window for new Private School and FES-UA applications
• AAA's August 7 close for new Private School applications and November 15 close for new FES-UA applications
• Deadline-exception categories and Step Up's exception dates
• Step Up's May 31 SLP and prior-year test deadlines
• Step Up's quarterly EMA attestation and balance-checkpoint dates
• The statewide $24,000 PEP deposit cap
• The two-year inactivity rule and the July 1, 2026 change sending reverted funds to the SFO for scholarships
• Step Up's interest deposit dates
• The 2026-27 statutory limit of 140,000 PEP students
• Step Up's notice that EMA may show 2025-26 amounts
• Step Up's notice that PEP is at capacity for new students
• The one-switch-per-year rule and the October 2-30 half-year switch window

Our own calculations:

• Quarterly amount (annual ÷ 4)
• Statewide medians, means, and percentiles across all 201 figures
• Grade-transition averages of $594.90, $195.03, and $789.93
• The grade-3-to-grade-4 county range of $584 to $609
• County distance from the grade-band middle
• Neighboring-county comparisons
• 13-year K-12 totals at frozen 2026-27 rates
• The $2,164 PEP-to-FES-UA gap and its 17 county exceptions
• Years-to-$24,000 planning estimates

What we can't verify for you:

• Whether your child is funded
• Your live account balance
• Whether a specific purchase will be approved
• Whether your documents have been accepted
• Whether a reimbursement will clear by a certain date
• Whether an adjustment has posted
• Whether a pending Step Up-to-AAA transfer was selected or completed

For any of those, your scholarship organization is the only real answer. Step Up For Students: (877) 735-7837. AAA Scholarship Foundation: (888) 707-2465.

One live date mismatch remains in Step Up's documents. Its PEP handbook says deadline-exception families must finish acceptance and participation requirements by May 14, 2027; the one-page schedule says May 15. We use May 14 because it is earlier and appears in the current handbook, but families should confirm the live EMA deadline.

Download the data: CSV · JSON. The files include source links, a data dictionary, quarterly calculations, the FES-UA Matrix 251-253 comparison, and verification metadata. Free to use with attribution.

Primary sources

• Official 2026-27 PEP award chart
• Official 2026-27 FES-UA award chart
• 2026-27 Scholarship Schedule
• Step Up PEP Family Handbook
• Step Up PEP application and capacity status
• Step Up Scholarship Program Switch Guide
• Step Up PEP Purchasing Guide
• AAA PEP page
• AAA Private School Scholarship page
• AAA FES-UA page
• AAA 2026-27 Purchasing Handbook
• Florida Statutes, section 1002.395
• Chapter 2026-33, Laws of Florida

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Florida PEP scholarship amount FAQ

These answers cover the questions families most often ask after they've found their number.

How much is the Florida PEP scholarship in 2026-27? Between $7,463 and $12,217 per student per year. The exact figure depends on the county listed on the application and the child's grade band. The lowest published amount is Volusia County for grades 9-12; the highest is Monroe County for grades K-3.

What's the average PEP scholarship amount? Florida doesn't publish one. Across all 201 published figures, our calculated median is $8,312 and the mean is $8,410.95. Those are our calculations, not official statewide award amounts.

Is PEP paid monthly or quarterly? Quarterly. Four equal amounts. Both Step Up and AAA publish four-quarter schedules for 2026-27.

When does the first quarter arrive? Step Up lists August 1 for renewal students and September 1 for new students and late renewals, then up to two weeks to credit the account. AAA lists September 1 as its first quarter date.

Does my income change my PEP amount? No. Income affects priority for getting funded, not the size of the published county-and-grade amount.

Does PEP use my ZIP code or my county? County — specifically the county of residence listed on the application. ZIP code only helps identify the county.

Why does my portal show last year's amount? Step Up currently says EMA may keep displaying 2025-26 amounts while its systems update. Compare against the official 2026-27 chart above, and treat the organization as the final word on anything student-specific.

Why do my kids get different amounts? The first thing to check is their grade bands. In Orange County the gap is $589 between a second grader and a sixth grader, and $781 between a second grader and a tenth grader.

Does accepting the scholarship mean we're funded? No. Step Up says accepting shows intent to use the scholarship and does not guarantee funding.

Are 2026-27 PEP applications still open? The regular new and renewal window is closed. It ended April 30, 2026. Step Up also lists PEP as at capacity for new students. Active-duty military dependents and students in foster or out-of-home care may have a deadline-exception path through Step Up.

Can I still get another Florida scholarship for 2026-27? Maybe. As of August 11, Step Up says its Private School and Unique Abilities scholarships have available capacity and uses a November 15 new-application deadline. AAA closed new Private School applications August 7 but keeps new FES-UA applications open through November 15. Funding is not guaranteed.

What happens to money I don't spend? It can roll over while the child stays eligible and the account remains open. A deposit cannot push a PEP balance above $24,000. Two straight fiscal years with no spending closes the account; under the law effective July 1, 2026, remaining funds revert to the SFO and must be used for scholarships.

Does moving to a different county change my award? Not after FLDOE assigns the amount for the current school year. The handbook says later county or grade changes do not change that year's amount.

Is PEP the same as FES? No. PEP runs through the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program. FES-EO and FES-UA are Family Empowerment Scholarship programs with different rules.

Is this calculator for FES-UA? No. FES-UA can depend on county, grade, and matrix level. Use the official FES-UA chart and your scholarship organization's determination.

Can PEP buy a laptop? No under both current PEP purchasing guides. FES-UA may allow technology under its own rules and purchase limits.

Can PEP pay for online school? It can pay for some approved online learning. Step Up bars full-time online instruction under PEP. AAA covers certain approved online and virtual providers and private-pay FLVS. Public-school-funded online enrollment can make a student ineligible.

What if my Step Up application is moving to AAA? AAA says selected transfers can take three to four weeks after the August 7 deadline. The application information may move; an already funded PEP balance does not transfer between SFOs.

Is the calculator result guaranteed? No. It's an exact lookup of the state's published chart plus quarterly math. The official account controls the student's real status and balance.

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Update history

• August 11, 2026 — v1.0. Initial release. Verified all 201 PEP amounts and the official FES-UA chart. Confirmed the four-quarter schedules, application status, funding rules, Step Up-to-AAA transfer notice, purchasing limits, statutory 140,000-student cap, and the July 1, 2026 inactive-account change.

Next scheduled check: monthly while capacity and application notices are active, before each quarterly deadline, and within one week of any change to an official award chart, handbook, schedule, statute, or purchasing guide.

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