Student eligibility: This scholarship is for Florida students 3-years old through 12th  grade, or up to age 22, with one of the following disabilities: autism spectrum disorder, muscular dystrophy, cerebral  palsy,  Down  syndrome, Phelan-McDermid syndrome, Prader-Willi  syndrome,  Spina  bifida,  Williams  syndrome or Intellectual  Disability  (severe  cognitive  impairment). Also, students aged 3 to 5 deemed  “high  risk”  because of developmental delays may be eligible.

Students can continue to receive scholarship funding until they graduate from high school, reach age 22 or return to public school. Unspent money in the account rolls over from year to year and is refunded to the state if the student has not enrolled in any eligible post secondary institution for three consecutive years following high school graduation.

 Scholarship account value: The scholarship amount varies according to grade and county but averages about $10,200 per student. The scholarship is higher for students whose disability is rated above a level 3 (known as Matrix 253). The parent may request an evaluation from the school district to determine whether the student qualifies.

 

The Gardiner scholarship allows parents to truly customize the education for their children. In a busy week Step Up will process more than 1,000 unique reimbursement requests totaling more than $1 million.

Eligible expenses: The Gardiner Scholarship can be used to pay for tuition and fees at an eligible private school, applied behavior analysis services, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapy, physical therapy, services from listening and spoken language specialists, private tutoring from a certified teacher, virtual programs or online courses, exam fees, contract services from school districts, contributions to the state prepaid college program, instructional materials such as digital devices and assistive technology, and curriculum materials. Preapproved expenses can be viewed here.

Reimbursements and provider payments: Parents may seek reimbursement for approved expenses by submitting receipts online with a description of the educational purpose of the purchase. Participating service providers, such as therapists, tutors and schools, may also invoice parents and be paid directly from the account. Parents may review the scholarship handbook here.

 

The bill creating the Personal Learning Scholarship Accounts (now called the Gardiner Scholarship ) passed largely along party lines and was signed into law in June, 2014. Before the first scholarships were awarded the Florida Education Association filed suit against the state to end the fledgling program. Lawyers for the teacher union called the special needs students a “collateral casualty” of the lawsuit.  The lawsuit was dismissed in December, 2014.

Over the next two years an outpouring of support from parents helped the public understand the impact of scholarships for children with unique abilities.

By the 2016 legislative session the Gardiner Scholarship received nearly unanimous support for an expansion bill. That bill made students with muscular dystrophy and all students along the autism spectrum eligible for scholarships, while the eligibility age was dropped to 3- and 4-year olds. The state legislature also increased the program funding to $71 million, enough for approximately 7,000 scholarships.