Driver ed begins in Durham under funding uncertainty

DURHAM — On June 6, shortly after midnight, the enrollment page for summer driver education classes popped up on the Durham Public Schools’ website. It only took about 90 minutes for the classes, which thanks to state funding uncertainties are now worth their weight in gold, to fill up at the eight high schools where they will be held starting Monday. David Roberson, the school district’s driver education coordinator, said he awakened early that morning to check the page and found that all of the 240 seats for 30 hours of classroom instruction and six hours of instruction behind the wheel had been quickly filled. “I got up at 2 a.m., and they all were filled,” Roberson said. Unfortunately, because of the limited number of classes DPS is able to offer this summer due to state funding drying up on June 30, hundreds of Durham students who wanted to take the course did not get into a class. “In the past, we had around 800 kids take the course over the summer,” Roberson said. Most years, DPS sends 2,200 to 2,600 students through its driver education program, but this isn’t most years. Across North Carolina, it’s estimated that about one-third -- roughly 43 -- of the 115 school districts have suspended their driver education programs this summer until school officials know whether the state will continue to help districts pay for them. But Durham school officials, and those in some other districts, are spending local dollars to pay for a limited number of students to take the course this summer while they await word from Raleigh about future funding from the state. Some observers fear state lawmakers won’t adopt a state budget before mid-September or even early October, which could mean no driver education classes will be offered in the fall. “Fall classes will be decided after the state budget is approved,” Roberson said. Even when the General Assembly approves the state budget, there’s no guarantee it will include money for driver education. Without state backing, the publicly funded program in North Carolina, which has been a model for the nation, would likely cease to exist. That’s the goal of a state Senate proposal that calls for eliminating the program and the requirement that a driver under age 18 get a learner’s permit before he or she can be issued a license. That frightens supporters of the state’s driver education program who fear that would put a lot of inexperienced drivers on North Carolina highways with little or no training, a problem that could lead to more accidents, higher insurance rates for everyone and more unlicensed drivers on the road. Locally, the $80,000 the school district has put up to fund driver’s education this summer will dry up on Aug, 31. nd unless DPS finds additional money to pay for them or state lawmakers decide to reinstate funding for program statewide at a cost of $29 million, there’s a strong possibility there won’t be any classes in the fall. Of course, school districts could pass the full cost of the program on to parents. It’s estimated that parents would have to fork over $300 to $400 per child if that were to happen. “If we charged $300 or $400 a year, I don’t think we would get 500 students in a whole year,” Roberson said. He said he’s received more than a 100 phone calls and 80 emails from parents who expressed their displeasure over the small number of driver ed courses being offered this summer. “Parents are quite upset because of this,” Roberson said, noting that many directed their anger toward the General Assembly. In the meantime, some parents have turned to private driving schools this summer. Edward Rincon, the owner of Andes Driving School in Durham, said he’s seen an uptick in calls from parents trying to schedule classroom and driving instruction. “We’re a little behind,” Rincon said. “It took us by surprise to have so many people calling.” At Andes, students are charged about $495 for 30 hours of classroom instruction and 30 hours of driving instruction. “It’s different because it’s private,” said Rincon, fully aware of the opportunity the driver education dilemma in North Carolina presents to driving schools. “High schools put two or three in their cars. We do one-on-one. It’s better that way because students receive personalized training.”