District-registered path
Registered home education
The parent directs the program under section 1002.41, files with the district, maintains the statutory portfolio, and completes one annual evaluation method.
Open the compliance hub →Florida Homeschool Resource
Florida Homeschool Umbrella & Private School Options
Florida education-path comparison
Understand what an umbrella school is—and what changes when a student enrolls
In Florida, umbrella school is an informal term often used for a private school that enrolls students learning primarily at home and handles records, attendance, transcripts, or other services. The student is generally enrolled in a private school—not registered in a district home-education program. Compare the legal path, responsibilities, services, records, cost, and exit process before signing a contract.
Private-school path
Umbrella or correspondence private school
The student enrolls in a private school that sets its own contract, attendance, academic, record, transcript, and service policies. State directory listing is not approval or accreditation.
Use the vetting checklist →Scholarship path
Personalized Education Program
The student registers with a scholarship-funding organization, follows the annual learning-plan and assessment requirements, and is legally distinct from district home education and private-school enrollment.
Open the PEP and funding hub →Official Florida source desk
Verify the legal category first, then investigate the organization
Florida's official sources explain the categories and provide a directory, but families still need to investigate contracts, accreditation claims, records, graduation requirements, scholarship participation, and services directly.
Florida Department of Education
Private School Directory
Search current school-submitted directory records, including location, grades, enrollment, religious status, accreditation reported by the school, disability services, and scholarship-participation filters.
Search the state directory →Florida Department of Education
Choosing a private school
Use the state's parent questions for philosophy, governance, staff, curriculum, records, accreditation, graduation, tuition, refunds, transportation, safety, and family expectations.
Read the parent guidance →Florida Department of Education
Private-school requirements
Review state information on annual surveys, attendance, student records, health records, fingerprints, closure procedures, and other baseline requirements that apply to Florida private schools.
Review private-school requirements →2026 Florida Statutes
Definitions of home education, PEP, and private school
Section 1002.01 defines these as separate education categories. Use the statute when a provider, form, or marketing page uses homeschool, umbrella, private school, and PEP interchangeably.
Read section 1002.01 →Florida Department of Education
Registered home-education portal
Use the state home-education hub for district contacts, statutes, parent resources, and current information about the parent-directed district-registered option.
Open the state home-education hub →Florida Department of Education
PEP responsibilities and distinctions
Review the current FAQ for scholarship-funding-organization registration, the annual Student Learning Plan, assessment duties, allowable education options, and how PEP differs from home education.
Read the FLDOE PEP FAQ →Decision framework
Compare the responsibility that moves—not just the service list
An umbrella school can be useful when its services fit the family, but the decision changes who holds records and which rules govern the student's attendance path. Get every important promise in writing.
Registration and attendance path
Registered home education is filed with the district; a private-school student is enrolled with the school; PEP is registered through the scholarship-funding organization. Confirm the student's actual category and effective dates.
Records and reporting
Home-education parents maintain the statutory portfolio. A private school sets its attendance, grading, promotion, transcript, withdrawal, and permanent-record processes. PEP families maintain scholarship and assessment records.
Annual accountability
Home education offers five statutory annual-evaluation methods. PEP requires the approved annual assessment path. A private school establishes its own academic accountability and reporting system subject to its policies and applicable law.
Credits, transcripts, and diplomas
A private school decides how it accepts coursework, awards credit, issues transcripts, and grants its diploma. Ask colleges, scholarship programs, athletics bodies, and future schools how they will evaluate those records.
Tuition, fees, and refunds
Private-school contracts can include enrollment, record, curriculum, testing, graduation, withdrawal, or late fees. Confirm the full annual cost, refund rules, renewal terms, and what services require separate payment.
Services and boundaries
Some schools offer only enrollment and records; others add curriculum, advising, testing, clubs, courses, or graduation support. Identify exactly what is delivered, by whom, on what schedule, and with what response times.
Eight questions before enrollment
Vet the school, the contract, and the record trail
Directory inclusion, scholarship participation, accreditation, curriculum, and family satisfaction answer different questions. Verify each claim at its original source and save the evidence relied on.
- 1. What is the legal organization?
Confirm the exact school name, address, responsible organization, Florida directory record, years operating, contact channels, and whether the child will be formally enrolled as a private-school student. - 2. How is attendance documented?
Ask what counts as a school day, who submits attendance, the required frequency, missed-report consequences, instructional-time expectations, and the proof families receive. - 3. Who owns and releases records?
Confirm the permanent record, grades, course descriptions, credits, transcript format, turnaround, transfer process, withdrawal documentation, retention, closure plan, and any record-release fee. - 4. What does each accreditation claim mean?
Identify the accrediting organization and verify status directly. Ask the receiving college, scholarship, athletic association, military branch, employer, or school whether that accreditation matters for the family's goal. - 5. What does the contract cost and promise?
Read enrollment, renewal, curriculum, testing, transcript, senior, graduation, late, withdrawal, and refund terms. Save the signed version, fee schedule, policy handbook, and every written exception. - 6. Which services are actually included?
Separate enrollment and recordkeeping from curriculum, teacher access, evaluation, testing, counseling, clubs, diplomas, ceremonies, special-needs support, and college planning. Confirm delivery timelines and staff qualifications. - 7. Is current scholarship participation verified?
Check the responsible scholarship-funding organization and current official sources. A directory filter or provider statement does not guarantee the student's eligibility, an award, a covered service, or the payment method. - 8. What happens when the family leaves?
Get the withdrawal date, refund calculation, attendance closure, final grades, transcript release, record-transfer process, diploma implications, and steps for moving to registered home education, PEP, or another school.
Changing education paths
Build the new path before closing the old one
Transitions can affect attendance compliance, scholarship eligibility, records, annual evaluations, credits, and graduation. Coordinate effective dates and retain written confirmation from every organization involved.
Step 1
Confirm the student's current legal category
Collect the district registration, private-school enrollment, scholarship award, or SFO registration documents that prove the current path and identify any unresolved duties.
Step 2
Secure the destination in writing
Obtain acceptance, enrollment or registration date, program requirements, records requested, fees, and any scholarship confirmation before assuming the new path is active.
Step 3
Close or transfer the prior path correctly
If ending registered home education, confirm the termination and evaluation requirements with the district. If leaving a private school or PEP, follow its withdrawal, record, assessment, and funding procedures.
Step 4
Reconcile records and effective dates
Keep receipts and confirmations, transfer academic records, document overlapping or missing dates, resolve balances or scholarship transactions, and verify the new organization shows the student active.
Important: This page provides educational information, not legal, accreditation, scholarship, tax, or contract advice. Florida Homeschool Resource does not approve, accredit, endorse, license, or guarantee any private school. Florida states that private elementary and secondary schools are not licensed, approved, accredited, or regulated by the Department of Education, and directory inclusion is not state approval. Verify current law, directory data, accreditation, scholarship status, contracts, records, attendance, graduation, transfer, and withdrawal requirements directly before enrolling or changing the student's education path.