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Step Up For Students, the non-profit organization that manages Florida’s Hope Scholarship Program, recognized on October 16 the South Florida Automobile Dealers Association (SFADA) and its dealer members with the Partners For Hope Award for supporting the program since its inception. Collectively, SFADA’s dealer members have contributed $21,887,000 to fund Hope Scholarships for victims of school violence or bullying.
In 2018, the Florida Legislature created the Hope Scholarship Program. This program was established to provide the parent of a public-school student who was subjected to violence, harassment, and or bullying the opportunity to transfer the student to another public school or request a scholarship for the student to enroll in and attend an eligible private school.
The K-12 Hope Scholarships are funded through a $105 tax election option the state offers to customers who purchase or register a vehicle in Florida. Tax elections are at no cost to customers because the $105 is collected out of the state sales tax customers already owe from purchasing or registering a vehicle in Florida.
“We are honored to have the South Florida Automobile Dealers Association as a partner in our mission to provide our state’s most vulnerable students with the opportunity to refocus on their education in a new learning environment,” said Bill Ussery, Hope’s Development Officer at Step Up For Students. “It is because of the support of South Florida dealerships that more than 208,000 customers agreed to make a Hope tax election. Because of the support of SFADA’s dealer members, more than 2,100 Florida public school students are attending another school with a new outlook on life and learning.”
“Our dealer members have supported the worthwhile efforts of many organizations throughout the years,” said Ari Wildstein, Chairman of the South Florida Automobile Dealers Association. “By supporting the Hope Scholarship, we are truly making a positive difference in the lives of children in our communities. Many of our customers said it was a ‘feel good’ decision for them to sign the Hope form.”
“On behalf of the state of Florida and the Hope Scholarship Program, I’m pleased to present the Partner for Hope Award. Critical to this program’s success is the support from the SFADA and its nearly 200 new car dealer members throughout Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties,” Ussery added. “These dealerships along with their finance and business managers have demonstrated a strong commitment to support Florida’s students by actively informing customers about the Hope Scholarship and the tax election option. We also recognize each dealership’s accounting staff for their work in collecting and reporting each customer tax election to the Department of Revenue and submitting the funds to Step Up For Students every month.”
About South Florida Automobile Dealers Association
The South Florida Automobile Dealers Association began in 1933 and originally was formed to share marketing opportunities and control costs. Today, the Association comprises more than 190 dealerships in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties making it larger than some state-wide auto dealer groups. For more than 40 years, the Association has donated over $7 million to numerous charities that also include Joe DiMaggio Hospital, YMCA, Alzheimer’s Association Sheridan House, Museum of Art, American Cancer Society, Historic Society of Fort Lauderdale, and others.
About Step Up For Students
Step Up For Students is a non-profit organization that helps administer the income-based Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program. Students who qualify for the national free or reduced-price lunch, or those who are homeless or in foster or out-of-home care, may qualify. The scholarship program provides tuition assistance to the private school of their parents’ choice or financial assistance to offset the transportation cost to an out-of-district public school. Since 2001, Step Up has awarded more than 991,000 Florida Tax Credit scholarships.
In February 2019, the Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, released results of a study on the effectiveness of the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program, the nation’s largest private K-12 scholarship program. The study found that students on scholarship for four or more years were up to 99% more likely to attend a four-year college than their peers in public school and up to 45% more likely to earn bachelors’ degrees.
For more information, visit www.StepUpForStudents.org.
