Some California schools don't offer driver education

Loretta Wilson of Rialto, Calif. recently forked over $240 to get her daughter, Alysha, in a private driving school that includes classroom and behind-the-wheel training.

She says it's unfair that she has to pay for all her daughter's training while the nearby Colton Joint Unified School District offers classroom instruction for free.

"I'm just next door to them. Our district doesn't allow it," Wilson said. "They're nickel-and-diming us to death."

The California Education Code requires all school districts to offer driver education classes for free, but it's not enforced, said Robert Lee, a consultant with the state Department of Education.

A four-person staff used to oversee driver education in the schools, but the state stopped funding it years ago, he said. Now, all the department can do is send letters to school districts to remind them of the law. The letters were last sent about five years ago, he said.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles requires teenagers younger than age 18 to complete 30 hours of classroom instruction or an equivalent home study or Internet training program and six hours of behind-the-wheel training before they can take a driving test.

Less than one-third of schools in the state offer driver education classes, and even fewer provide behind-the-wheel training, Lee said. Parents call him several times a month to ask why classes are not offered at their children's school. Lee said all he can do is cite the law and tell them to lobby their school board.

In Riverside County, classes are offered at two high schools in the Temecula Valley Unified School District, at one school each in the Riverside and Moreno Valley districts and at none in the Corona-Norco Unified School District.

In San Bernardino County, classes are offered at two schools in the Colton Joint Unified School District, at one school in the San Bernardino City Unified School District and at no schools in the Fontana and Rialto unified school districts. The Fontana Adult School charges a total of $225 for the driver education course and behind-the-wheel training.

Syeda Jafri, a spokeswoman for the Rialto Unified School District, said it has become more difficult over the years to find teachers qualified to teach driver education. Fewer colleges and universities offer the training, she said.

"So we're leaving it to professionals in private sectors," she said.

Also, academics has become more of a priority, which means fewer electives, Jafri and other school district officials said.

Kim Kruger, director of secondary education in the Moreno Valley School Unified School District, said there is more of a need to provide classes to help underachieving students. He also said many students prefer taking classes at private driving schools because they can complete a course in a few weekends instead of a full semester.

Some school officials also blamed cutbacks in state funding for driver education programs.

But Jerry Gaines, the former president of the California Association for Safety Education, said many school officials are mistaken about funding for driver education.

The state used to designate about $40 million for behind-the-wheel training. Many school officials believe that when the state stopped funding that program in the early 1990s, it also stopped paying for classroom instruction, but that's not true. Funding for classroom instruction always has come out of a general fund, he said.

The price of instruction varies widely, a sampling of schools indicates.

Classroom instruction ranges from $49 at Guardian Angel Driving School in Redlands to $120 at Gibbs Driving School in Palm Desert.

Behind-the-wheel training costs range from $170 at Guardian Angel to $833 for a 14-hour "deluxe" course at California Driving School, which has locations throughout Southern California.

Cherie Gero, owner of Aces Driving School in Murrieta, said private driving schools are better equipped than instructors at public schools are to teach teenagers how to drive. At public schools, driver education is typically taught by instructors who also teach other subjects, she said.

Staff writer Shirin Parsavand contributed to this report.

E-mail Douglas Quan at dquan(at)PE.com

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)