Tuthill also said changes were made to the process of determining household income for eligibility in the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program during the 2019-2020 school year.īut Tuthill “respectfully disagreed” with other issues highlighted in the audit, which included a finding that the organization spent $280,000 meant to be used for the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program for purposes unrelated to the program. “Effective with the opening of the 2019-20 school year, processing for the Gardiner Scholarship program, system business rules were updated, and employees were trained to address the issue,” Tuthill assured state officials. 26 letter to state auditors that the organization fixed some issues ahead of the 2019-2020 school year. The Gardiner program, named after former Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, serves students with disabilities.ĭoug Tuthill, president of Step Up for Students, wrote in an Aug. Ingram alleged the non-profit has “a history of these types of findings and of getting away with it.”Īuditors warned that failing to properly manage applications for the Gardiner and Florida Tax Credit scholarship programs could keep students from receiving funding. “We’re not surprised the auditor general found that Step Up has misused funds,” said Fedrick Ingram, president of the Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teacher union. Teacher unions and many Democratic lawmakers have argued that the programs strip money from public schools. The scholarship programs have long been controversial, as GOP leaders have sought to expand school choice. Under state law, the organization is allowed to keep 3% of each voucher amount for administrative costs. John Legg, according to the Step Up for Students website. The organization has deep political connections in Tallahassee, with its board including longtime school-choice leader and Republican donor John Kirtley, Democratic Congressman Al Lawson and former Republican state Sen. Step Up for Students administers a series of voucher-like programs for the state, including the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program, which lawmakers created this year. The Department of Education did not immediately respond to requests for comment. “During the eligibility determination process, there is an increased risk that scholarships will be awarded to ineligible recipients or for incorrect amounts,” state auditors warned, adding that the Florida Department of Education’s input “should be solicited” to fix the matter. Other issues flagged by auditors involved the non-profit organization’s failure to properly check applicants’ household-income eligibility for the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program, which provides voucher-like scholarships for low-income students to attend private schools. The error affected 583 students before it was fixed. The audit, issued last week, said special-needs students who were eligible for awards under the Gardiner Scholarship Program saw a delay in funding due to the error by the organization Step Up for Students. TALLAHASSEE - Florida’s largest K-12 scholarship funding organization put at risk assistance to more than 500 students with special needs ahead of the 2018-2019 school year because staff members made a “processing error” involving enrollment documentation, a Florida auditor general report found.
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