Board to seek policy on PEP and Family Empowerment scholarship participation; staff to return first reading in November

The Alachua County School Board heard presentations and discussion Oct. 15 about a proposed policy to define how Personalized Education Program (PEP) and Family Empowerment Scholarship (FES) students may participate in district courses, career-technical programs and extracurricular activities.

Staff presentation: Ms. Neal (Director/presenter) summarized a proposed policy that would allow PEP and Family Empowerment Scholarship–Unique Abilities (FES-UA) students to enroll in district courses on a space-available basis and require written contracts and prepayment of course fees through educational spending accounts. "This policy... would outline how students enrolled in the personalized education programs and the Family Empowerment Scholarship unique abilities may interact with district programs and activities," Ms. Neal said.

What the policy would do: the draft presented would permit PEP and FES-UA students to participate in interscholastic extracurricular activities, district virtual instruction programs, career and technical education courses (when enrolling solely for those courses), industry certifications and statewide assessments. It would clarify that PEP and FES-UA students are not entitled to Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) under IDEA unless they enroll full time.

Proposed fees and methodology: staff presented a methodology using the district's FY 23–24 cost reports and weighted FEFP factors, estimating per-course fees ranging from roughly $605 for a short elementary special-area course to about $2,494 for a semester block high school course (block course prorated for an A/B rotation). Staff recommended placing fee amounts in a district procedure rather than in policy so they can be updated without a policy change.

Numbers and scope: staff reported there are currently 1,032 PEP participants, 3,772 students on Family Empowerment equal-opportunity scholarships (typically private-school placements) and 2,110 Family Empowerment unique-ability students — a total of 6,914 students in statewide scholarship/voucher programs (raw data pending final state comparison files).

Board direction and rationale: after questions from several board members about costs, equity, and whether a policy or procedure was the proper vehicle, the board indicated it wanted an overlay policy and that the detailed fee schedule should be a procedure. "Either include both in our policy or have them both by procedure," Mr. Vu asked; several board members recommended policy for overarching rules and procedures for fees and billing. The board settled on next steps: staff will prepare a policy for first reading in November and a separate fee procedure, and will include cross-references to existing home-education processes.

Concerns voiced: board members raised the risk that offering piecemeal courses to PEP/FES students could undercut full-time public-school funding and noted fixed costs (facilities, insurance, staffing) make low per-course fees unsustainable for some offerings. Several members said the district should consider basing fees against scholarship amounts in some cases and keep fee-setting in procedure to remain flexible.

Outcome and next steps: board direction was to continue developing the proposed policy and bring a first-reading policy to the November meeting, with procedures for fees and billing drafted in parallel. Staff also will confirm ESE intake and eligibility processes for students seeking evaluations so funding matrix determinations (for FES-UA) are accurate before billing.

Ending: The board's decision to adopt a guiding policy while keeping fees and billing to a separate, updatable procedure aims to give families clarity and protect district finances while the state reporting and comparison process is completed.