Family Empowerment Scholarship
for Unique Abilities
Important Note: Any completed and eligible FES-UA applications submitted after December 15, 2023 will be considered as pre-registering for the 2024-25 school year.
A Unique Education for a Unique Child
Unique Abilities Scholarship Handbook
Who Is Eligible?
How Does It Work?
The Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities (FES-UA) provides access to an education savings account (ESA) that functions like a bank account from which you direct funds to pay for tuition and fees for a private school, homeschooling options, therapies, tutoring and more.
Families have the option to purchase services and products through MyScholarShop without having to pay upfront and apply for reimbursement. However, they can still use providers or vendors outside of MyScholarShop for pre-approved purchases by paying upfront and submitting a reimbursement claim.
- Apply for a scholarship through Step Up For Students. You will need to show proof of your child’s age, diagnosis, and residency. Here is a checklist of documents you may need.
- Once approved, funds will be deposited into an ESA
- Go to MyScholarShop to find preapproved services and products. Payments to providers and vendors are made directly from the ESA
- Purchase preapproved services and products for your child’s education and request reimbursement.
- To learn more about reimbursements, click here >
Helpful Documents
Working with Providers
Specialized services by approved providers include but are not limited to the following:
- Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) services
- Services provided by a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP)
- Services provided by a licensed occupational therapist
- Services provided by licensed physical therapists
- Services provided by listening and spoken language specialists
- Other specialized services provided by an approved provider
Specialized services providers must be one of the following:
- An organization approved by the Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD) as a provider
- An individual licensed by the Florida Department of Health
- A staff member, listed under an organization approved as a provider through the Office of Early Learning for Specialized Instructional Services Provider (SIS), which includes behavior analysts licensed by the Behavioral Analyst Certification Board
- An individual listed on the BACB website as practicing in the state of Florida.
Stepping Up To Success
