Frequently Asked Questions -

The Florida Department of Education
Announces McKay Scholarship Transition

Mckay Scholarship will transition to the Family Empowerment Scholarship Unique Abilities (FES UA) as of July 1, 2022
Florida House Bill 7045 in accordance with statute 1002.394(12)(b).

More information below.

What is the Family Empowerment Scholarship as defined by the Florida Department of Education?

Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities (FES)

“Effective July 1, 2022, the Mckay Scholarship Program will join the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program under the Unique Abilities category.

This branch of the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program is designed to offer families of students with disabilities, as young as 3 years of age, access to additional education options. Families may choose to enroll their student in another public school, or they may take the opportunity to receive a personal education savings account (ESA) for their student. With an ESA, parents receive a deposit of public funds into government-authorized savings accounts with restricted, but multiple, uses. An ESA can be used to fund not only items such as private school tuition and fees, but also online learning programs, private tutoring, community college costs, higher education expenses and other approved customized learning services and materials. Families apply and annually renew for participation in FES UA through one of the approved SFOs, which are responsible for determining eligibility, awarding and distributing funding to eligible student accounts, and approving eligible expenditures.”

What is a Personal Education Savings Account (ESA)?

How do parents apply their scholarship dollars towards American Heritage/American Academy tuition?

Parents will have to designate through the Step Up for Students portal where quarterly funds may go towards educational expenses.
Every quarter parents must designate where the funds will be applied. Most parents quickly approve. If the parent intends for the funds to be applied to tuition but does not designate this each quarter, tuition will be considered late. Parents are responsible for all tuition.
Once you indicate the payment quarterly, the SFO will forward funds directly to American Heritage Schools.
American Heritage Schools will only be participating with Step Up For Students as the funding organization

NOTE: Current McKay families should have received an email from the Department of Education requesting the parent verifies their email address. If the parent has not received an email from the DOE they should contact them immediately.

What is the Scholarship Funding Organization (SFO)?

Scholarship Funding Organization (SFO)

The State of Florida has designated two organizations to administer the new FES with Unique Abilities programs.

They are the following:

Step Up For Students info@stepupforstudents.org
A.A.A. Scholarship Foundation- FL, LLC info@aaascholarships.org

Parents MUST choose one of the above listed organizations to administer funds. Current participants should have received an email from the Florida Department of Education to verify your email address.

American Heritage Schools will only be participating with the Step Up for Students SFO. If you determine that you prefer to participate with the AAA Scholarship, you will need to either pay our tuition in full or make arrangements to attend another participating school.

Will My Child's Siblings Be Eligible For Any Funds?

Current students participating under the FES Unique Abilities program (formerly McKay) may have siblings that will be eligible for Family Empowerment Scholarship Educational Opportunity (FES EO) funds. American Heritage Schools are currently only participating in the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Unique Abilities (FES UA).
American Heritage Schools are actively reviewing the FES Educational Opportunity program for the siblings of students receiving FES UA to determine if we will participate. The school expects to have that answer for families within the next month. If this is something that may affect you, please reach out to our current McKay Specialists listed below.

Karen Stearns at: karen.stearns@ahschool.com

Broward Campus - Calesta Soto at:
calesta.soto@ahschool.com
Phone: (954) 472-0022 ext. 3001

Palm Beach Campus - Steffi Weiner at: steffi.weiner@ahschool.com
Phone: (561) 495-7272 ext. 337