![]() To learn more about our scholarships and to apply, go to www.StepUpForStudents. “When you have a child with special needs, you want them to be the best they can be,’’ said Thomas, who lives in Tampa with husband Trey, a sales director for a medical device company, and their children, Liam, daughter Sydney, 8, and son Laine, 3. Both programs are designed to alleviate education expenses so families can focus on helping their kids thrive. The other is the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship (FTC), an income-based program serving K-12 disadvantaged children in Florida. The Gardiner Scholarships program is one of two statewide scholarships Step Up manages. Parents can use the scholarship for homeschooling, but students cannot receive the scholarship while enrolled in public school or participating in any other state-sponsored scholarship program. Students in kindergarten who are deemed “high risk” due to developmental delays and not older than 5 on Sept. We will continue to accept applications after August 1, but cannot assure those received after that date will be processed in time to potentially receive a full award. To qualify, students must be diagnosed with one of the following: autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, muscular dystrophy, Prader-Willi syndrome, spina bifida, Williams syndrome or an intellectual disability (severe cognitive impairment). Scholarship (formerly Gardiner), Step Up For Students needs to receive your application and all required documents by August 1, 2021. The program is for Florida schoolchildren ages 3 through high school graduation or age 22 – whichever comes first. The award can go toward private school tuition, certain therapies, specialists, curriculum – even a college savings account. The Gardiner Scholarships program works like an educational savings account, letting Liam’s parents choose how to spend the money from a list of approved programs and providers. “He loves it!’’ said Liam’s mom, Stacey Thomas. Liam’s family was able to use their annual award – on average about $10,000 in 2015-16 – to pay tuition at Morning Star School, a small, private Catholic school in Pinellas County that offers Liam in-house therapies and an individualized curriculums. Step Up administers the state-funded program that serves students with certain special needs. ![]() ![]() He gets all of that and more thanks to Step Up For Students and the Gardiner Scholarship, formerly Personal Learning Scholarship Accounts (PLSA). But the 9-year-old whirl of energy also wants to do what other kids do at school like walk with friends down the hall, eat lunch in the cafeteria and sit at his own desk. 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.Liam Thomas has Down syndrome and benefits from weekly occupational and speech therapies. The Gardiner Scholarship allows children with certain special needs or unique abilities to use funds on approved services and educational tools such as tuition. can submit their reciepts on the last lesson day of the month in their Gardiner Scholarship portal. Students can continue to receive scholarship funding until they graduate from high school, reach age 22, or return to public school. Step Up For Students is an income based scholarship program. Students aged 3 to 5 deemed “high risk” because of developmental delays may also be eligible. This scholarship is for Florida students 3-years old through 12th grade, or up to age 22, with one of the following disabilities: anaphylaxis, autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, deaf or hearing impaired, Down syndrome, dual sensory impaired, emotional or behavior disability, intellectual disability (severe cognitive impairment), language impaired, muscular dystrophy, orthopedic impaired, Phelan-McDermid syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome, rare disease as defined by the National Organization for Rare Disorders, speech impairment, specific learning disability, Spina bifida, traumatic brain injury or Williams syndrome. ![]()
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