![]() “Absent documented consideration of appropriate eligibility criteria, such as frequencies in household income, during the eligibility determination process, there is an increased risk that scholarships will be awarded to ineligible recipients or for incorrect amounts,” auditors wrote. Another family received the same size scholarship after failing to report annual income.Ī closer look revealed in both cases that incomes were too high to qualify for the scholarships at all. One family’s eligibility was based on a single month’s income, and a student was awarded a $3,259 scholarship. Those earning between 185 and 260 percent of the poverty level get awarded on a number of criteria.īut a number of errors were made in a sampling of applications audited. Families earning 185 percent of the federal poverty line or less see direct certification. Last year, these scholarships were awarded based on household income. ![]() Step Up For Students failed to properly evaluate household incomes to make sure these vouchers only went to eligible students. That includes supervisors double-checking work.Īt the same time that special needs students got bogged down in bureaucratic efforts, the opposite problems existed with Florida Tax Credit scholarships. “According to Step Up records, during the 2018-19 school year, initial funding for the Gardiner Scholarship Program was exhausted in August 2018, resulting in approximately 800 students being placed on a waiting list.”Īuditors say problems could be erased if processors make sure all information for applicants gets completed when applications are filed with the DOE. “Notwithstanding, since scholarship funding is on a first-come, first-served basis, there is an increased risk that students experiencing an application processing delay for Gardiner Program Scholarships may not receive funding,” the audit makes clear. The audit notes the students received funds but said mistakes at the agency should not unnecessarily delay funding from reaching students. “None of these children were denied funding due to this short-term error.” “We discovered and corrected the error and those 583 students received funding in September, which would have been considered normal in past years,” Gibbons said. Step Up worked with DOE to develop a way to get eligible renewal scholarships funded in August, and most applicants did. “Prior to this policy change, parents received funds in September or even October.” “With regards to the delay in funding, this was due to a change in policy intended to help get scholarships funded faster,” he said. Patrick Gibbons, Public Affairs manager for Step Up For Students, said the problem stemmed a change in state regulations. Because the problem was detected, the 583 students wrongly left waiting did have scholarships approved. The error in processing was exposed after a concerned parent called to find out why funding was never approved for a student. “In addition, Step Up had not established supervisory review and approval procedures to confirm the accuracy and completeness of the application data before, or detect any incorrect or missing information after, the data was uploaded to the FDOE (Florida Department of Education).” “Step Up Application Processors forgot to check the verification documentation certification fields in the application system before the data was uploaded,” the audit reads. In the 2018-2019 school year, that meant that while 9,917 students applied for Gardiner scholarships, 583 of those failed to receive the vouchers purely because documents weren’t properly verified.
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