Michigan’s secretary of state is asking state lawmakers to fund school-based driver’s education programs.
Michigan used to have a fund that helped pay for districts to offer driver’s ed options. It went away in 2004. Now, only a few districts still offer driver’s training.
Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said fewer students are taking driver’s training as a result.
“Privatizing driver’s education as we’ve done didn’t lead to higher quality services, it didn’t lead to cheaper options, it didn’t make more convenient options for teens and families. It actually forced families to pay out of pocket for driver’s training and, especially now, a lot of people can’t afford it,” Benson said during a press conference in Dearborn Wednesday.
A couple of years ago, lawmakers put $500,000 total toward a pilot program that allowed Dearborn and Wayne-Westland public schools to offer driver's training to qualifying students.
In an annual report from its first year, Wayne-Westland Community schools enrolled 106 of 400 possible students. Dearborn enrolled 93.
That funding is set to run out at the end of September if lawmakers don't renew it or take it statewide.
“That means families that benefited from these programs will have to find other ways to ensure, at a higher cost, when the cost of everything else is escalating, that they’re still able to give their young people access to the education they need to be safe drivers on the roads,” Benson said.
She said lawmakers should extend the pilot program statewide instead of letting funding lapse.
Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud said it’s something he believes everyone across the political spectrum can support.
“This isn’t political. Republican drivers, Democratic drivers, Independent drivers, we all want safe drivers. And we’re hoping that, with funding to help offer driver’s education to all young people in the state of Michigan, we can do just that,” Hammoud said.
The officials are also supporting planned legislation to make it easier to become a driver’s ed teacher.
In the past, some concerns have arisen about not wanting to overburden schools with more responsibilities.
Don Wotruba, the executive director of the Michigan Association of School Boards, said he understands how schools getting involved in driver’s education could make things simpler for families.
But he said it would be a matter of implementation. He said the group doesn’t have a position on the proposal yet.
“It wouldn’t be an easy thing to bring back into schools and have it function better than what the private market is doing right now,” Wotruba said in an interview.
In practice, Dearborn and Wayne-Westland have worked with private partners to bring driver’s training back to school.
Wotruba said he could see a path for that working more broadly, as long as there’s a clear vision.
“I guess it’s a question of depending on what [Secretary Benson] is trying to solve for parents. If it is cost, I think there are ways to create needs-based scholarships within a budget for driver’s ed,” he said. “If it is convenience, I think partnerships could be created.”
