A South Florida mother taps into a state program to help pay for her child to go to a private school. She says while she...
A South Florida mother taps into a state program to help pay for her child to go to a private school. She says while she followed the rules to get the money, things backfired and left her searching for answers for months. 7’s Heather Walker investigates.
Education is important to Jackie Ramirez. She works as a teacher’s aide, and has two daughters in college. Her youngest has a few years to go. But she says it’s been a struggle.
Jackie Ramirez: “My Luna, who is nine. In kindergarten, she was retained because she wasn’t at par with the grade level, so she repeated.”
Jackie decided to transfer her daughter to a private school.
She found Primer K-8 in Kendall.
It’s part of Florida’s Step Up for Students program, where families can apply for scholarships for private schools that may better suit their child’s needs.
Jackie says she signed up her daughter at Primer and then applied for Step Up for Students.
Jackie Ramirez: “I did everything they asked of me. I submitted the application, I applied for a step-up, and immediately I got approved.”
Jackie was awarded $8,553 from Step Up for Students. She withdrew her daughter from public school in October.
Luna started at primer a few days later…
Jackie Ramirez: “Between me transferring Luna to Primer, she has excelled. She’s moving on to third grade, and now she’s reading on a second grade level.”
The next month, Jackie received an email from her daughter’s new school, saying that the Step Up program hadn’t sent the money.
So she called the program to find out why.
Jackie Ramirez: “They told me, ‘Well, we need the official withdrawal form saying the date she got withdrawn, her name, date of birth, everything.’ I was like, ‘Perfect.'”
Jackie sent in the form, and thought everything was fine. It wasn’t.
Her Step Up for Students award was broken into two payments for the fall semester.
The first payment of $2,145.75 was sent out on November 7th. The second one was put on hold.
Jackie Ramirez: “It still shows, temp hold, nothing else.”
Jackie says she’s been going back and forth with the program for months but has never gotten an explanation.
Jackie Ramirez: “Endless notifications, calling them, emailing, even through chat.
We were able to get an answer.
A representative for Step Up for Students tells 7News:
“Each quarter of the school year, the Florida Department of Education compares Step Up’s list of students who are on scholarship with students who have been reported as attending a public school by the school districts. if students appear on both lists, the DOE notifies the scholarship funding organizations of who those students are. The student was identified during the October crosscheck as being enrolled in a public school.”
Jackie Ramirez: “So to be honest with you, I’m just so frustrated. I applied. I followed the process. I was awarded. It was funded!”
And it was funded. At first.
According to Step Up for Students, Jackie withdrew her daughter from public school in October, but the withdrawal form wasn’t submitted to the program until December.
The program says it’s up to the parents to request a withdrawal form and submit it to Step Up For Students by the deadline.
When the October crosscheck revealed her daughter was still officially listed as being in public school, the money was pulled.
Jackie is worried she’ll have to cover the cost.
Jackie Ramirez: “Yeah, it’s a lot. I’m like, ‘I don’t have that. I don’t even have for tutoring.'”
Jackie wants to keep her daughter at Primer for the upcoming school year. So she applied again for Step Up for Students. She was approved. However, she’s worried things could backfire again.
Heather Walker, 7News.
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