The Family Empowerment Scholarship Program for Students with Unique Ability (FES-UA) is designed to offer families of students with disabilities access to additional education options. Families may choose to enroll their child in another public school, or they may choose to take the opportunity to receive a personal education savings account (ESA) for their student. With an ESA, instead of having their child attend a public school, 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 scholarship funding organizations (SFOs), which are responsible for determining eligibility, awarding, and distributing funding to eligible student accounts, and approving eligible expenditures.

Below you will find more information about FES-UA:
FES-UA Eligibility Letter: English, Spanish, Haitian/Creole
 Frequently Asked Questions about FES-UA: FAQ Here

Families can choose to enroll in another public school in Osceola County.  Acceptance will be based on ESE Program availability and school capacity.  Families can choose one of the following options:

1. Select a school within the FES Choice Zone and the District will provide transportation to that school.
2. Select a school outside the FES Choice Zone and transportation will not be provided to that school.

The Zones PDF is available to check the zones for transportation for the 2025-2026 school year.

The request window for FES-UA Public School Option is November 21, 2024-January 27, 2025. 

Please fill out the form to make a request for a particular school.  Once completed, a member of the ESE Department staff will review your request.  

Families may choose to enroll their child in another public school, or they may choose to take the opportunity to receive a personal education savings account (ESA) for their student. With an ESA, instead of having their child attend a public school, 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 scholarship funding organizations (SFOs), which are responsible for determining eligibility, awarding, and distributing funding to eligible student accounts, and approving eligible expenditures.  

Please visit FLDOE Scholarship Programs link to get more information on accessing the Private School Option for FES-UA.