Hope Scholarship

OCTOBER 2023

• The Hope Scholarship Program is a state of Florida school choice program.
• Students who have reported a qualified incident that took place at a K-12 public school/event are eligible.
• The Hope Scholarship Program was established by the Florida legislature to provide parents of public school students (K-12), who allege they were victims of one of the 14 qualifying incidents, the opportunity to:
  • transfer his/her child to another public school with capacity,
  • request a scholarship for the student to enroll in and attend an eligible private schools., or
  • apply for a $750 transportation scholarship to a public school outside of the Lake County Schools.

• The Office of Independent Education and Parental Choice maintains a directory of private schools.

Any student enrolled in a K-12 public school, school-related program, or activity, including incidents on the bus or at the bus stop, is eligible. The accused party can be a student or an adult. There are 14 qualifying incidents, all of which must be reported during the same school year in which they occurred.

• Step 1 – To begin the Hope Scholarship application process, a parent must contact the student's school and report the alleged Hope eligible incident to the Principal/Administrator. The Principal will begin an investigation into the incident and complete it within 15 school days.
• Step 2 – Within 24 hours of the report, the parent will be mailed or provided the signed original Hope Scholarship Initial Notification Form. This form contains directions on how to apply for Hope. The parent’s next step is to determine if they would like to change schools.
  • To apply for transfer to another public school within LCSS, a parent will submit the completed Hope Scholarship Initial Notification Form to the Office of Choice and Alternative Programs. The Office of Choice and Alternative Programs will then provide the parent a link to an application.
    • Note: The District does not provide public school Hope Scholarship Program students with transportation.
  • To apply for a private school scholarship or transportation funding to another public school district, parents will contact and submit the form to the nonprofit Scholarship Funding Organization (SFO) Step Up for Students. The SFO is responsible for determining eligibility and awarding funding.
  • Parents always have the option to apply to a Charter school. Charter schools manage their own application and registration processes and are to be contacted directly.
• Parents choosing to apply for a Hope Scholarship, are to do so within 15 days and must notify their assigned school if they choose to go to a private school.

• If no action is taken by the parent, the assigned school will assume the student will remain.

• A student who uses the Hope Scholarship to transfer to a school within LCS, matriculates to the next school level in the identified feeder pattern on the Hope Scholarship application. Reapplication to attend the next school year or to move up to the next level is not necessary.
• A student who uses Hope to apply for a scholarship to a private school or transportation funding to another public school district, remains with their new school until high school graduation or until they return to the Lake County School District.

• Within 24 hours of a student victim making a report of a qualifying Hope eligible incident to a principal, the parent will be mailed or provided the signed original Hope Scholarship Notification Form.
  • Eligible Private Schools: Refer to the directory maintained by the Office of Independent Education and Parental Choice.
  • Hope FAQs: Explore our FAQs section for detailed information: Hope Scholarship FAQs | Hope-ScholarshipFAQS-spanish.pdf.